Jack Frost and the seven children
by Alectheraven
Summary: This is a remake of the classic snow white story, with Jack Frost as a male version of snow white. Rated T for broken hearts.
1. Chapter 1: New life

North Nicholas was once a very lucky man, he had everything he could wish for. A beautiful wife, a kingdom with people that respected him and loved the way he ruled, great allies and friends from every nearby kingdom. But still there was something missing in his life. Even Toothiana, his wife, felt that something was missing. They had yet to feel the happiness of having a child.

After years of trying to get a child they finally succeeded. No one was happier than Nicholas whom had waited for an heir to his kingdom. He wouldn't be around forever, and when the day came for his departure from this world he wanted to know that he left everything in safe hands.

As he held his newborn son for the first time he took the boy out to the balcony and raised him towards the full moon. "I hope for you to grow and be healthy, let the moon guide you, Jack Frost. My son!" The man said while looking proud on his son. Toothiana put a hand on his shoulder and flied a bit over the ground to reach Nicholas cheek to give him a kiss.

Nicholas put the baby towards his chest and brushed the little boys cheek. His thumb was as thick as the boys arm, it made North laugh a bit. Jack started to giggle at the sound of his fathers laugh.  
"He is so tiny." Nicholas pointed out while tears of joy was appearing in his eyes.  
"Not for long, they grow fast. Before we know it he will be all over the place chasing girls around." Toothiana said with a small laughter before taking the boy into her arms.

The both of them went back in as a cold wind suddenly came over them. Thoothiana was amazed that Jack didn't even seem to notice the cold.  
"I think he's special." She pointed out as she looked with motherly eyes on her newborn son.  
"Of course he is special, he is our son." Nicholas said without really thinking about the meaning of her words.  
"Of course he is, but that wasn't what I meant." She said, but then gave out a small sigh. "Well, it doesn't matter. Time will show if I'm right or not." She continued before starting to humming while she cradled Jack to sleep.

"What did you mean then?" Nicholas asked but he didn't get any answer. Toothiana had decided to let time show them how special their little boy were.

* * *

This is a rise of the guardian version of snow white, staring Jack Frost as snow white and Pitch as the stepfather (that should come in the next chapter)  
I saw a picture of Jack Frost as snow white on Zerochan and just had to make a fanfic about it xD

A bit of info about the fic that I didn't make clear in the fic or just wanted to sort out:  
*Yes the 7 children is the 7 dwarfs (duh)  
*All the characters have their powers but they aren't guardians, this is another universe where some people are born with special powers. Everyone are mortals and can die x3  
*I wanted the moon to be a part of it so I let it be their God x3  
*Jacks last name is North since Norths name is Nicholas st. North. Toothianas last name is also North since she is married to him.  
*Jack was named Jack Frost because unconsciously North picked up that Jack had some kind of power. From the beginning they had decided that if it became a boy he would have been named only Jack.  
*I will use Nicholas as Norths name since he sounds so badass then xD Though I might use North as a nickname now and then. :3

If you have questions about the fic, if I am unclear about something then you can always ask them in the reviews and I'll answer them when I put up the next part. :3  
I hope you like it ^^ This is kind of like when all series suddenly get a special episode where they do an alice in wonderland with their characters, but I took snow white instead xD hahahha It was just cause I happened to see a picture of Jack in snow whites outfit xD But I wont put him in a dress... probably... maybe... or should I? :3


	2. Chapter 2: Sickness

The years passed by and everything were calm and quiet in the kingdom. Well, maybe not everything.

Nicholas walked through the snow-covered garden. Toothiana had been away for three weeks already, her father had fallen ill and she had needed to go back to her own kingdom for some time. No one had thought that she would have to stay there for so long though. He felt very uneasy when he didn't have her there, especially since he couldn't keep up with his son at all times. Jacks energy was a bit too much for the big man somet times and Toothiana had much easier to keep up with the kid.

A snowball suddenly hit Nicholas head and he heard the giggling of an energic seven year old boy. He turned around to see the white haired boy run behind a tree to hide from his father.

"Now where can naughty boy be hmm..." Nicholas said as he walked around closer to the tree and the giggling boy. "I wonder could he be..." He continued as he were at the tree and pretended to be going the other way before suddenly attacking. "HERE" Nicholas said as he gripped Jack whom laughed when he got captured.

After some minutes playing around in the snow, Nicholas made Jack calm down so they both could catch their breath. They were completely covered in snow and almost looked like snowmen.

"When is mom coming home?" Jack suddenly asked as he looked up at his father. His light blue eyes full of innocence and curiosity. Nicholas laid a hand on Jacks head and stroke the snow white hair gently.

"Soon" He answered. How soon he didn't know, but it should be soon. He hated that he had given Jack the same answer everyday for the last three weeks, but what else could he say? Nicholas started to brush off the snow from his clothes and rose from the ground.  
"Lets go in before we get sick." He told Jack with a smile, thought it had become obvious for them years ago that Jack didn't get sick from the cold. He didn't even notice that it was cold if they were outside in the middle of the winter at midnight.

As they walked inside the castle they passed many yetis and elves, the servants of the castle. There were far more of them than usually, mostly because it was close to Christmas. The stories of Santa Claus had always brought joy to Nicholas when he were a child which is why he decided to every year give away presents to the children in his kingdom. For that he needed many people that could help him, the elves wasn't that much help though, he just let them believe they were. But it was funny to have them around, and Jack loved to trick them ever since he noticed his powers over snow.

* * *

Toothiana returned after five weeks to her husband and sons side. But when she got back to the castle she found her husband lying in a bed, with a sickness no one could identify. Even though she only had been gone for five weeks, it looked like fifty years when she looked at Nicholas. The sickness had drained him on all his energy, he could barely speak anymore.

"North." She whispered as she touched his cheek. How could such a big man look so fragile? As if one touch would break him into a thousands of pieces. A tear fell from Toothianas eye and dropped down on Nicholas cheek. He lifted one of his big hands to touch her cheek but could barely get halfway up. As fast as she noticed it she took his hand and helped him. He wasn't even able to brush his thumb over her cheek as he used to do.

A knock on the door startled them both, but Nicholas was too weak to show how startled he actually were. Toothiana put Nicholas hand down carefully and brushed her thumb over his cheek while giving him a gentle smile. "I'll be right back." She told him and she got a weak nod in response.

Toothiana flied out of the room and looked up at the man that waited on her.  
"Is he going to be alright?" She asked the man. He looked down at her with his golden eyes filled of sympathy before he shook his head.  
"I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do." He told her, "You are lucky that you came when you did, I am sure he wouldn't have been able to keep it up for another day. At least you can say goodbye."

Toothiana felt the tears falling down her cheeks and her hands were covering her mouth. The man waited patiently for her to calm down, which went much faster than expected.  
"You have some time left with your husband, use it well." He reminded her once she was calm enough.  
"Does my son know?" She asked, not knowing if the man that had treated her husband was aware of their son or not, and if he had kept Jack away from his father or not.

"The boy knows that he is sick, but he doesn't know how sick. As far as I know he probably believes its a cold, he haven't been in the room since the sickness became this bad. If you want me to talk to him then..." He got cut off in his sentence by Toothiana.

"No... I'll talk to him." She told the tall man before she left him.

* * *

Its 2 AM and I am soon finished with the third chapter xD hahah I am so into this story, I may write everything in one nigh (or not)  
The third chapter is killing me, I am crying right now... I needed a break because of that and uploaded the second chapter xD I may be extra bleedy because its me who are writing it and I need to get into the characters feelings, so you may not feel as sad as me x3

And I have already gotten a review YAY :3  
Got the question 'who is the prince going to be'  
I thought that I could just give you both bunnymunds and Sandys roles x3  
Bunnymund is the huntsman and Sandy is the prince (though it won't be a love relationship between them in this story xD haha)

See ya next time :3


	3. Chapter 3: A taste of death

In a room, high up in the castle, Jack was playing with the snow. He had just learnt how to create snow from thin air which he thought was amazing and he did it as much as his energy let him. He had made enough to make a snowman inside his room, but it had started to melt so he felt a bit down.

Suddenly the door was opened and his mother walked in. He still hadn't gotten the knews that she had returned to the castle and she hadn't been able to tell him earlier since she had heard about Nicholas when she arrived.

"Mom, I made a snowman." Jack said excitedly and pointed in the direction of an almost half melted snowman. He then realized that she probably would get angry because of all the water that would come on the floor so he put both arms behind his back and looked shamefully down into the floor. It was just a trick to get off the hook, no one could resist his cuteness. At least not his dad, but his mom was pretty good at it by now.

"I'm sorry for making the floor wet." He said, trying hard to make her believe he were sorry. But that wasn't what was on her mind in that moment.

"Don't worry about it." She started before sitting down on the floor in front of Jack so that she could look right into his eyes. "We have to talk." Jack saw the tears in her eyes and he didn't understand what he could have done to make her so sad.  
"Your father is very ill." She told him as she put a hand on his shoulder. He quikly backed away from her hand though and walked around in the room. "I know he's ill, but he will get better soon. I have never been sick for more than a week, so dad should be okay any day now. You don't have to worry mom." Jack said.

Toothiana sighed and rose from the floor. "Its a bit more serious than that. You're father has a very serious illness. We should go and see him, just in case."  
Jack couldn't really understand what his mom meant by that, but he felt that he shouldn't ask anything at the moment. Everything would probably get better as she got to talk with dad again.

They walked down to the room Nicholas was laying in. As they entered Toothiana could have sworn that he was looking worse than he had just minutes earlier. She was carrying Jack on her left arm and supported a bit with her right arm, soon he would be too heavy for her to carry like that.

She put him down on the floor and Jack ran towards the bed and looked up at his dad. Even he could see that Nicholas was more dead than alive, that it wasn't a normal sickness. But death didn't cross his mind. His father couldn't possibly die, he was a hero. He was Jacks hero.

"Hey dad, when will you be able to play in the snow again?" Jack asked his dad while the tears started to appear in his eyes, but he didn't let them out, he knew that a man shouldn't cry so easily. His father would be alright after all, so there was nothing to cry about.

Nicholas gave his son a weak smile, or at least tried to. The big beard made it impossible to see that he tried to smile because he couldn't move his lip enough.

"You will get better, right?" Jack asked when his dad barely moved. Nicholas forced himself to speak even though it already was hard enough to just breath. "Of course." It was said so silently so Jack almost believed he had imagined his dads words.

Toothiana held Nicholas hand and brushed it gently with her thumb, she didn't like that he lied to Jack when he could feel his life getting sucked out of his body for every breath he took. But she also understood why he did it.

Jack and Toothiana stayed in the room the whole night. Jack fell asleep early but as fast as Toothiana tried to move him back to his room he woke up and wanted to go back to his dad. After some tries to make Jack sleep in his own room Toothiana gave up and let him be at his fathers side, and at the same time she decided to stay with him as well.

She hadn't planned to fall asleep, since she wanted to be with him for every moment he kept breathing. But at some point she fell asleep while still holding his hand. In the morning she woke up to Jacks cries. Nicholas wasn't breathing anymore.

* * *

OMG I promise I didn't mean to make it this dark in the beginning. It just kind of happened o.O In the beginning I were just going to write a short description on what had happened during Jacks childhood and then start shortly before Pitch wanted to murder him... How did this happen? I swear, this story is writing itself, I am not doing anything!

Anyway, I have finished the 4th chapter (which is less sad than this, I promise) But I will put it up tomorrow (or later today actually) since the clock is almost four in the morning xD.  
I hope my muse keeps this up, this is the first time I haven't had a hard time with any of the first chapters at all. x3


	4. Chapter 4: A new beginning

There was a long period of silence and sorrow in the castle after Nicholas death. The news about his death was held a secret for some time so that the people of the kingdom wouldn't worry. But soon the rumors about it started to go around, and as Christmas came the peoples fears was verified. That was the first Christmas in many years that he hadn't been going around in the city, giving Christmas presents to all the kids. They didn't know yet that he was dead though. Not before Toothiana had forced herself out of her heartache for a moment to announce the news for the people.

The kingdom grieved for many days and nights, only the children were happily playing around. Except for one.

Jack sat in his room all alone during the days, if someone tried to speak with him he often ignored them. He listened to his mother, but he never said anything.

* * *

3 days after Christmas

Jack sat on his bed while looking out through the window on all the snow. He hadn't been playing in the snow for a long time now, it wouldn't be that much fun without his dad anyway. He got a bit startled of a sudden knocking on the door. As he turned his head he saw his mother step in. Toothiana held a familiar staff in her hands. He had seen it before, it had belonged to his father.

Toothiana kneeled down in front of Jack and held the staff in front of him. "This belonged to your father, he made it when he were a teenager and he always had it with him when he went out to 'explore the world'. He said that it helped him get through some tough times, when he almost lost faith it helped him get it back. It meant a lot to him, and I know that he wants you to have it." She stroke Jacks hair with one hand as she spoke.

"He said that he would get better." Jack whispered and Toothianas smile disappeared. She wished that there was something she could say to make him feel better.  
"I know, and he hoped with all his heart that it would have been possible. But sometimes people have to leave. He would be sad if he saw you like this. I don't know where he are but I know one thing." Jack looked had looked down on his feets until that point, now he looked up at his mother and waited for what she would say.

"I know that he loves you and that he wants you to be happy." She told him. The room was silent, she waited for Jack to respond. At first he looked at his mother then he looked down into the floor for just a moment and then he smiled.  
"That was two things." He pointed out.

"I know." Toothiana laughed, finally she had been able to make her son cheer up a little bit. "So do you want to come down and eat dinner, or do you want to eat it on your room?" She asked Jack as she put the staff on his bed. Jack hadn't felt like eating with her since Nicholas died. Everytime she had made him come down he had just looked down on the plate or at the empty seat where his father used to sit.

"Yeah, I'll come down." He said with a smile as he took a grip on the staff. It was too big for him at the moment, but in some years it would be perfect.

* * *

The castle never became as cheerful as it once were, but at least it became a bit better after some time. Jack stopped thinking about his father as someone that was dead and never would be back, and instead he thought about him as a invisible guardian. He believed that his father was watching over him just like the moon always did. Maybe that was where his father were now, the moon.

One day a man came to the castle, Jack recognized him but couldn't really remember where he had met the man before. A tall man with grayish skin, pitch black hair and golden glowing eyes.

"Kozmotis, what are you doing here?" Toothiana asked as she welcomed the man inside.  
"I just wanted to make sure that you were alright after what happened. I'm sorry I weren't able to visit earlier. I had too much work on my shoulders." He told Toothiana whom got a bit of a shock as the man mentioned her husbands death. Even though he didn't say it out loud it was still obvious. No one had brought it up for months.

"Don't worry, we have managed quite alright after that." She said as she pulled herself together. Then she noticed Jack hiding behind a chair. His white hair made him very easy to spot when he wasn't in the snow. "Jack, come here. You don't need to be shy." She told him and he hesitated for a moment before coming forth. "This is Kozmotis Pitchiner, he took care of your dad while he was sick." Toothiana explained in case Jack didn't remember.

"Don't be so formal, call me Pitch. Everyone does." Pitch told Toothiana.

* * *

_YAY, Pitch are in the story now ^^ hihi  
Next chapter will be a bit sad again ^^' but now I will try to hurry things up a bit so that we comes to the mirror/killing/running/dwarfs/death/happy ending part x D hahahha_

By the way, I will put up a poll with a question to this story, cause I can't decide if I shall have the classical magical mirror, or take magical water instead, or be a bit more Pitch like and take magical dark sand x3  


_Well, see ya next time :3_


	5. Chapter 5: A family

For the next couple of years Pitchiner started to come to the castle more and more. Toothiana enjoyed his company very much, and started to grow deep feelings for the man. She knew that he never would be able to take her dead husbands place, and that her love for Pitchiner never would become as deep as it had been for Nicholas. But she knew that Nicholas would have wanted her to move on in life and do what was best for both her and Jack. Jack needed a father, and she needed comfort from someone that would be able to love her as much as Nicholas had. She believed that Pitchiner was the only one that could do that for them.

Jack didn't enjoy how often the dark man came over, he was certain that underneath that gentleman smile of his he were just a rotten liar. Jack tried to keep away from the man as much as possible. It was only when his mother forced him to dine with them or made him come with them on a stroll that he actually spoke to the man. He didn't enjoy it at all and often got sent to his room because he behaved badly.

The moments Jack could be alone with his mother became fewer and fewer. He had always been a very calm kid up until that point, but now he needed attention. So he started to do pranks in the castle, mostly on the yetis and elves. Sometimes he even targeted Pitchiner when he felt daring.

He often got surprised because Toothiana always got to know about what had happened to the yetis and the elves, but Pitchiner never said a word about Jacks pranks on him. Even so he still couldn't help but feel suspicious towards the man.

Shortly after Jacks tenth birthday it was announced that Pitchiner and Toothiana were to be married. The marriage was celebrated through the whole kingdom. The people was certain that the new king would become a great leader just as Nicholas had been. The only one that wasn't happy about the news was a white haired little boy.

* * *

"Jack" Toothiana shouted as she searched after her son in the garden. There was no answer. "Where could he b.." She interrupted herself when she saw something white high up on a branch a bit away from her. Jacks brown clothes made it hard to spot him up in the tree from that distance, if his hair hadn't been white she would probably not have noticed him. Even though it was snow outside the wind had blown most of the snow off the branches, if it hadn't she might not have noticed him.

Toothiana flied over to the branch Jack was sitting on, as she came closer she noticed the staff he was holding. His fathers staff.

"Jack, you shouldn't go out by yourself without telling anyone." She said gently and Jack looked up from the staff. "I know you miss him, but he would want this. Pitch is gentle and nice and if you give him a chance then he could become a wonderful father. Or a friend. He wont take your fathers place, he will simply stand beside him." She hoped that Jack would understand. It wasn't easy for a child to see their parent die and then try to accept a new person as their parent.

"I don't like him. I think he's hiding something." Jack said while looking down on the staff again. He knew that his mother either looked sad or disappointed at him, he couldn't bare to see any of those expressions.

"Jack... Everyone has secrets, that doesn't make them bad people. He is a very nice man. Don't you think that you dislike him so much because he tries so hard to be your father and you have a hard time accepting that? Can't you try to get along with him? For my sake?"

As Jack looked at Toothiana he tried to say no but the words just couldn't come out. Instead he nodded. "I'll try." He mumbled it but Toothiana was able to hear it anyways.

"Thank you." She said and kissed Jack on the forehead. "Come in before dinner." She continued and started to fly back to the castle, but turned around for a second "Oh and Jack, stop freezing the elves, they have it hard enough without that." She shouted to him but didn't sound angry at all. Then she flied into the warmth of the castle.

* * *

Jack flew through the castle, holding his fathers staff close to his chest. It was just recently that he learned how to fly with help from the wind. He was still not used to it and almost crashed into the walls when he were going to make a sudden turn, but he was in a hurry so he didn't want to run since it took more time than flying.

He stopped outside his mothers room. It didn't surprise him that Pitch already had arrived, he always got news before anyone else. That fact seemed a bit suspicious to the thirteen year old boy, how did he get to know everything that happened before everyone else?

"How is she?" Jack asked as he walked up to his 'father'. He hadn't been able to get used to that word even after three years. He tried hard to be nice towards Pitch, but he still refused to call him dad.

Pitch sighed and shook his head slowly. "Not good." The tone in the mans voice sent a shiver down Jacks spine. A yeti came out from the room and as both Jack and Pitch looked questioning on the yeti he only shook his head saddened.

"Don't worry Phil, she will be okay." Jack said, trying to encourage the sad yeti before going in to see his mother.

She was very sick. It had started with a cold just some days earlier and then suddenly it had turned to the worse. Now she could barely speak, and her breathing sounded raspy. It felt just like when his father had died.

Pitch was already sitting on Toothianas side while Jack kept looking from the door for a while. He was shocked to see the same scene from all those years ago, but he didn't let himself stay that way for very long. He knew that his mother needed him so he would stay at her side for as long as she needed him to.

He walked up to his mother and sat down beside the bed, not giving one look at Pitch that were right in front of him. Pitch probably didn't bother to look at him either when his wife were lying in front of him half dead.

Toothiana opened her eyes and looked up at Jack, he could see the tears in her eyes. She were in pain, but she would probably not admit it to anyone. Especially not Jack. She gave him a weak smile.

"Jack." She said as she took a trembling hand to his cheek. "I love you so much."

"I know, I love you too." He almost whispered. "Don't worry, they will soon be able to get you up on your feet again. You will be alright in no time." Jack wasn't certain if he tried to convince her or himself. Toothianas eyes saddened a bit more and she just shook her head slightly.

The moment of silence got interrupted as Pitch coughed a bit. "Jack, could you leave us alone for a moment?" Pitch asked with gentle tone. That tone had always felt so false to Jack, it was first when his mother nodded in agreement that he rose and walked out.

"Promise me that you'll take care of him." Toothiana said with weak and raspy voice as the door closed. Pitch gave a her a reassuring smile.  
"Of course I will." He said and watched as her smile grew a bit.  
"What would I do without you?" She asked and started to cough right afterwards and when she finally stopped coughing her breathing had gotten much worse.

"You would probably have lived a bit longer." Pitch answered with a smile, both gentle and cruel at the same time.  
"What?" She couldn't get any sound to the word, she could only form the words with her lips.  
"Thanks for giving me your kingdom." He continued as he lifted her hand and kissed it. Just as he did, black sand went from Pitchs hand onto Toothianas and started to travel over her body and then into her mouth.  
"You were so busy seeing me as the perfect father and husband, so you never noticed that I poisoned you and your husband. But don't worry, I'll take care of Jack and this kingdom."

Toothiana couldn't move a limb nor say a word. She could barely breath anymore and she gasped for air. Pitch rose up from his seat and walked towards the door, as he were at the door he waited just a few seconds before opening it making it look like he had been running to the door in panic.

"Sh..she can't get air anymore." Pitch almost gasped out the words and Phil ran into the room to see what he could do. Jack were right behind Phil, but a hand stopped him before he could enter.  
"Don't, its not a pleasant sight" Pitch warned, looking at Jack with the eyes of a father.  
"I know." Jack replied and pushed away Pitchs hand before walking into the room to watch his mother take her last breath.

* * *

This chapter became much longer than I intended it to be ^^' Hope you enjoyed it anyways :3  
So from the next chapter it will be the whole mirror/killing/running/poisoning/death/happy ending thingie xD hahaha

Oh my God, I have posted five chapters in less than 24 hours... I shouldn't spoil you like this, you won't be prepared for the time when I will only post one chapter every year :''( ... I will try not to become that bad though xD

Answers to reviews:  
Karasu99: Honestly, I thought that this fic would be very bad and that not even I would like it once I started writing it. I am happy I was wrong xD Lets hope I can keep up the good work ;)

Reba G: I liked the idea of having sandy as the mirror, and I might actually use it xD I already have a plan on how to use him as both the mirror and the prince x3 Thanks for your suggestion ^^


	6. Chapter 6: The mirror

Pitch walked deep down into the castles dungeons, during his stay in the castle he had learned every path there was to know down there. It was like a labyrinth, which was the reason no one dared to go down there. Some said that people had starved to death down there while trying to find their way out.

It may or may not have been just rumors. But people had died down there, bones from the dead were everywhere. Had they been killed during the kingdoms dark age? Or simply starved to death because they were stupid enough to think they would find something interesting down there? Maybe both.

After some turns Pitch arrived into a big round room, once upon a time it might have been a great dining hall suited for kings. But now it was just a dusty old room without any furniture's left. The only thing that made it special was what had been placed in the middle of the almost empty room.

"Finally" Pitch exclaimed before he started to laugh "the kingdom is mine." He started to walk around the hole in the middle of the room that was filled with black sand. It moved as Pitch walked around it with a grin on his face. Horse-like figures came up from the sand and then went down into it again.

He made a gesture with his hand making the sand move away to show a mirror that it had been put over. "Sanderson, my old friend. How have you been? You must get bored in there." As Pitch spoke a golden man appeared in the mirror. Some black sand seemed to creep over his body inside the mirror, making him unable to flee from his prison.

"So my friend, I have gotten rid of king Nicholas and queen Toothiana. I have their kingdom in my hands. Tell me, who is the strongest now?" Pitch asked. Sanderson looked up at Pitch, hurt by the words. He had known Nicholas once, he even dared to say that they had been friends. And now he had been the reasons for Nicholas death. But he couldn't disobey Pitch as long as the chains kept him there, he had to tell him what he knew.

Sanderson disappeared from view in the mirror and golden sand made an illustration of a man, Pitch. He was the strongest living being on earth, at least for now.  
"And no one has more power than me? No one can stand in my way?" He asked just to make sure. The sandman couldn't lie as long as he was bound to the black sand.

Sanderson appeared again and shook his head as an answer. For now he could not see anyone that could defeat Pitch. Pitch grinned and let his black sand go back over the mirror, and he left Sanderson in the dark once again.

"Lets go my darlings, its time to make this kingdom a dark and cold place." Pitch said as he walked back into the labyrinth like tunnels. Some of the sand followed him, it was almost completely invisible when it were in the shadows. "Go into town, and do everything I have told you to. A war will not start by itself." The sand brushed against Pitch as it passed him.

"Now we will have some fun."

* * *

_This chapter is a bit shorter than the other once, I had gotten an awesome idea before on how to use the sandman in the mirror because of an inspiring review. But in the poll people wanted to have Pitch's nightmare sand since that's his thing. So I combined the tree ideas, the sandman captured by Pitch's nightmare sand and locked up in a mirror. I hope you liked that ^^'_

By the way, since Sandy doesn't talk I got away with not rhyming right? xD seriously, I can't rhyme. At first I thought about rhyming but everything went to hell xD as my friend said: 'Rhymes never go well, I hope they all end up in hell'

I think that Jack will become sixteen in the next chapter, I don't think there will be anything happening while he's still thirteen that I need to write a whole chapter about xD 


	7. Chapter 7: Heavy thoughts

The years past and the kingdom became darker and darker for every day. Starvation and wars were torturing the people, the worst blow was taken during the long dark winters. Pitch did nothing to stop it, the fears made his dark powers stronger. He would take over the world, one country at a time.

But even during those dark times there were some hope left. A white haired boy without fears, whom yet hadn't learned the fate of the kingdom.

Pitch could easily have gotten rid of Jack after Toothianas death, but of some reason he didn't do it. Even though he rarely spoke to the boy after Toothianas death, he still enjoyed watching Jack play around. It made him feel like his own daughter were alive again, she had loved to play around in the snow like Jack did. Pitch had also noticed Jacks special powers, his abilities to control snow and wind. He hoped that Jack would become his ally in the future, and help him.

After his mothers death, Jack had accepted Pitch as his father even though he still weren't able to call him by that word. He had no idea about what Pitch had done to the kingdom, and he thought that the reason Pitch always were so silent was because he still grieved Toothianas death.

Jack often played around even when he became too old for it, at least most people would say that he were too old for it. Seventeen years old and still playing in the snow, his mother would probably not have thought that it would be appropriate for a member from the royal family. But Pitch didn't mind it at all, at least he didn't say anything about it. The only rule Pitch had was that Jack wouldn't go out alone, and he couldn't go into town.

The story he had been told was that there had been some bad years for the kingdom, and many murderers and thieves were going around in the city. It would be safest if they kept away from there until it cooled down a bit. Jack started to wonder if it ever would cool down since it already had been four years.

But he didn't mind it that much since he mostly kept to the garden and the forest when he were out anyways. He had only gone into the city when his parents had taken him there as a kid, he had no interest in going there alone.

* * *

The king of nightmares, as his people had started to call him, stood at a window looking out on the freshly fallen snow. Even with the dark clouds covering the sky it still looked beautiful and peaceful, everything he didn't like. In town there were people suffering, freezing to death in the middle of the street while the survivors would have nightmares about all that's happened. Nothing was peaceful there. The only thing that kept Pitch at the window was the boy that flew around and created statues with the ice and the snow.

But the sight of the boy didn't make Pitch stay calm for long, soon his thoughts came back to something that had bothered him for weeks. Of some reason he couldn't stop thinking about the possibility that someone would be able to stop him. Even though he went down into the dungeon almost every day just to ask his trustworthy prisoner he still couldn't keep calm. Not before all hopes and dreams had disappeared from peoples hearts.

He turned from the window and walked down towards the dungeons, he had to ease his worried heart. The bones and bodies down there had increased a lot during the last years. Not because people had lost their ways and starved to death, but because Pitch didn't accept fools that defied him. No one had been able to hear their devastated screams as Pitch tortured them with poison and nightmares, until the moment they begged for death and he granted their last wish.

Pitch walked into the room where his 'mirror' were placed. The sand moved away immediately as Pitch approached it, revealing the hidden mirror with its prisoner. The golden man looked up at Pitch, knowing exactly what question he would get, but unable to answer before it had been spoken out loud.

"You don't seem happy to see me, old friend." Pitch commented with a smile. Sanderson simply turned his head away angrily. Being called friend by him in this situation, after having locked him inside a mirror, killed his friend and tortured people so that he could hear them. If he ever would get out of that damn mirror then he would make sure that Pitch would pay for everything he had done.

"You seem to be in a bad mood, lucky for you I have a lot of things to do so this will have to go fast." Pitch said, usually he stayed long times with Sanderson and talked about things the golden man hated to hear about just for fun. "Am I the strongest and most powerful being in this country still?" He asked and looked confident even though his heart were pumping faster because of his uncertainty.

What came next made Pitch loose his balance for a second. The golden man shook his head. "What?" Pitch screamed when after he had stumbled back a couple of steps. "Then who is?" He asked angrily. Sanderson didn't want to answer him, but he didn't have a choice because of the black sand controlling him.

Sanderson disappeared out of view and the golden sand started to create a human. Pitch's eyes was wide open in shock when he saw Jack.

"Jack? Is Jack Frost more powerful than me?" He asked, somehow to make sure that it wasn't the boy, maybe it was someone that just looked a bit like him. But Sanderson nodded as an answer. "Is there any chance that he will turn those powers against me one day? If so, will he defeat me?" Pitch asked, maybe he could have Jacks powers on his side.

The golden sand started to make up a scene where Jack and Pitch fought each other and Pitch lost.

He stumbled back as he saw the scene, at first Sanderson noticed sadness in Pitch's eyes. Something he hadn't seen in a long time, maybe he was weak for the boy, maybe Jack would survive. But then Pitch's expression became emotionless.

"I guess there's no helping it, he has to die. I know a huntsman that will be perfect for that job. I hope you give me better news next time we meet Sanderson." And so Pitch left the golden man alone in the dark.

* * *

_Why do I always write late at night? xD Damn it brain xD hahaha Can't you be creative during daytime?  
In the next chapter we will see Bunnymund :3 And in the chapter after that we should be seeing the seven children x3_

Q&A  
How is Pitch gonna "kill" Jack?  
Of course I wont take away the poisoned apple x3 I'm too old fashioned to break that tradition xD

who will be the prince?  
First I thought of using Sanderson as both the prince and the mirror, but now I am thinking that he will get to share the prince roll or get it taken away completely. I have some ideas running through my head but I haven't decided completely what to do yet. And I rather not spoil my ideas since I want it to be a really awesome surprise x3

how are the kids gonna get rid of Pitch?  
I have some ideas how they will be of help, but they won't get rid of Pitch. They and Jack will take him on but in the end it will be someone else actually finishing him off :9


	8. Chapter 8: Mission

"You called for me?" Pitch turned around as he heard the voice and made a pleased smile as he saw who it was.

"Aah, E. Aster Bunnymund I presume." Pitch said as a 6-7 feet tall pooka walked into the throne room. He was the last one left of his species. Many people had been affected by the darkness that had taken over the kingdom, but Bunnymunds species got driven to extinction in just some years. Some people had blamed the war on the Pookas which led to another war. Everything acording to Pitch's plan.

"Yeah, that's right." Bunnymund answered not really caring for good manners. Not that Pitch had expected anything else. The big Pooka was the last of his species and lived alone in the forest all year long. He only met people if he were going to work for them as a huntsman. He was the best hunter in the kingdom, and during those hard times it was hard for people to find food. Those who had money payed well for someone to get them something to eat. Though food wasn't really Pitch's problem.

"I have heard a lot about you. The best hunter in the kingdom, some even dares to say that you're the best hunter in the world." Pitch said.

"Stop your sweat talkin and get to the point." The Pooka told Pitch a bit irritated. He wasn't that found of the cold, but he would take the cold any day if it made him get as far away from humans as possible.

"Someone seems to have woken up on the wrong side of the rabbit hole." Pitch commented calmly but only got a glare back. "I will get to the point then. There is someone I have to get rid off. Would you be able to kill a human the same way as you kill an animal?"

"Why shouldn't I? Its not like it would be my first time." Bunnymund answered. Pitch had suspected that it would be easy to make the hunting rabbit kill a human, kill Jack. Especially because of what had happened to his family. He had no reason to feel anything for any human after that.

"That was all I needed to know." Pitch said before going on with explaining the Pookas mission. "There is this boy that stands in my way, I need to have him killed. Take him to the forest and kill him there, he's strong so do it when his guard is down. Get rid of his body so no one will find it, but take the heart to me."

"And the only reason you aint doin it yourself is cause if it fails, then he won't know it was you. Am I right?" Bunnymund asked, he noticed immediately that he had caught Pitch off guard with his question. The bunny had hit bullseye. "What will I get if I succeed?" He asked before Pitch had collected himself enough to answer the first question.

"Whatever you want. Money, land, anything."

* * *

"I don't get why Pitch suddenly wanted me to have a bodyguard." Jack complained to Bunnymund as they went into the forest. Jack flied around Bunnymund as he spoke while the pooka tried not to loose his temper with the boy.

"I know he said that it had been a lot of weird people running around in the forest, but I could just freeze them."  
Bunny tried to not listen to the boys ranting, but with such big ears it was hard not to hear.

"And how come he got a kangaroo for the job? I don't get it." Jack continued. He had started ranting because he was irritated on Pitch, but he had then continued because the bunny didn't give him attention.

"Oy mate, what did you call me?" Bunnymund asked a bit shocked and irritated. "I'm no kangaroo." Jack smirked as the pooka finally snapped.  
"Oh yeah? And all this time I thought you were. But if you're not a kangaroo, then what are you?" Jack asked as he landed in front of Bunnymund.  
"I'm a bunny." If anyone else had said that it would probably have made Jack laugh since bunnies were supposed to be cute. But Bunnymunds voice were so low and threatening so it was impossible to start laughing.

Before Jack had thought about a way to get this angry conversation into something positive they both got surprised by a noise from the bushes. Jack turned around and held his staff high just in case, while bunnymund took up a boomerang and was ready to use it.

But just as both of them was close to attack whatever it was, the thing came out from the bushes and they had to stop themselves. It was just a little hummingbird that had been flying around in the bushes, at least it looked like a hummingbird but with some human traits. Jack recognized it as fast as it sat down on a branch. Those birds only lived in the neighboring kingdom, where his mother had lived before she married Nicholas.

The bird kind of looked like his mother because of the feathers. It was like if he were looking at a baby copy of her. A babytooth.

"Oy, shall we go or what?" Bunny suddenly interrupted Jacks thoughts.  
"Yeah yeah, its not like we need to hurry you know. As long as we're back before the sun goes down." Jack told the Pooka and then looked back towards the branch where the little bird had been sitting. It had flied away while he wasn't looking.

"I wonder what it was doing here, so far from its home." Jack mumbled as they started to walk.  
"Probably the war, both people and animals has to move to survive. Even to places which have environments they aren't used to." Bunnymund explained. Jack knew that there were wars going on, but he had no idea how bad they was, and not that his own kingdom was the cause of that war. He had no idea that his mothers birthplace had gotten into a war either. Why hadn't Pitch told him about that? He should know that Jack would be interested in that.

"oh..." Jack replied, not knowing what to say about it. "You never told me your name." He then continued in a try to change the subject.

"I'm E. Aster Bunnymund. My friends calls me Bunny... Or at least they did." Bunny told Jack, he wasn't certain if it was a good idea to do so though since he soon would kill the boy anyways. Why even bother to have a conversation with him?

Jack wondered what Bunnymund meant by his last sentence. But something in the pookas voice made it impossible for Jack to ask him about it.

"I'm Jack." He said "but you probably knew that already." Jack continued. Everyone that worked in the castle, or even just got temporarily jobs, knew who Jack and Pitch were before they had even seen them. It would be weird if they didn't know.

The Pooka didn't respond and Jack thought about throwing a snowball at Bunny. But he changed his mind, he had already made them get a bad start and he didn't know how long Bunnymund would work for Pitch so it was better to try and get on his good side. Though it was a bit fun messing with the big fur ball.

* * *

They walked deep into the forest before Jack decided that it was time to stop. Bunny had wondered what it was Jack wanted to do there and got quite surprised when Jack started to build a snowman.

"You walk all this way, for a snowman?" He asked, barely believing his eyes. This was the person he were going to kill, a person that apparently was very hard to beat, and he was building a snowman.

"Of course not. I go all this way to be able to skate on the lake after I have made a snowman. The ice on that lake over there is the best." Jack commented. That place was his favorite. His father and mother had often gone there with him when he were a child. But after his fathers death he had always walked there alone.

Bunny couldn't believe how childish this teenager was. A child usually went long distances to get to their favorite skating place or their favorite tree. To go that distance in the cold just to do something they as well could have done just a few steps from the house. Why did Pitch want to get rid of this boy so badly? He seemed so innocent, so unknowing and he definitely didn't seem like a threat. But Bunnymund had a job to do. It didn't matter who this kid was, or how innocent he seemed to be.

He took a knife from the belt hanging over his shoulder and walked up to the boy. He just had to kill him, one blow and he would let the boy die with a happy feeling. If he weren't able to kill him with one blow then the boy would have to die with a scared, or maybe angry feeling. It wasn't like it matter, as long as the boy died. He raised the knife and prepared the first and hopefully final blow.

* * *

_Dum dum dum duuuum... Don't we hate cliffhangers? hehehehhe :3 Oh well, everyone knows what will happen anyways xD  
This took me two hours to write o.O WTF?  
Oh well, it was a good chapter at least ^^  
_

_Oh by the way, I am horrible at Australian dialect so sorry if I couldn't do Bunny that well xD _


	9. Chapter 9: Betrayal

Bunnymund held the knife high, ready to cut it into the boys back. But he hesitated for some reason, could he really do such a thing to that boy? He forced all the thoughts of guilt to go away, he could take care of those thoughts after his job was done. Now he needed to concentrate on his mission.

Jack turned around just in time to notice the knife that was heading towards him. He dodged the attack which was a surprise to Bunny, no one had never been able to dodge even one of his attacks before. That second of shock gave Jack just enough time to take his staff that were laying on the ground and he directed it towards Bunny.

"Who sent you? I can freeze you in a second so don't you dare move." Jack said as he backed a bit just to make sure there was enough space between them so that the pooka wouldn't be able to reach him before Jack could stop him. How could Pitch have been so careless when he picked out a bodyguard? It would have been better if he had taken a couple of the yetis with him.

Bunny thought for a moment, he was certain that if he attacked then he wouldn't be killed. That boy wasn't the type to kill anyone. It would give him an advantage since he attacked to kill while the boy only would try to hurt so that he then would be able to get away. The problem was that he wasn't certain if he could kill Jack. Not because Jack might be stronger than him, but because the boy was too innocent. Even though he hated human kind for what they did to his family, his friends and his species, he still couldn't blame this kid for it.

"The king" The pooka answered Jack.  
"I meant, who told you to assassinate me?" Jack changed his question, even though he knew that the bunny knew exactly what he meant.  
"I know." Bunny said without changing his answer. He looked a bit pained as Jacks expression became shocked for a moment and the staff sank a bit in his hands, but then he pulled himself together.  
"You're lying, why would Pitch want to kill me? He's like a father to me." Jack argued.

"He said that you were standing in his way." Bunny explained, "if you return there then he will just find someone else to kill you. He may even do it himself."

Jack wasn't certain what he should believe, Pitch had been a bit distant ever since Toothiana died but why would he want to kill him? He had never done anything to stand in Pitch's way.

"How do I know you aren't lying?" Jack asked the pooka.

"You can't mate." Bunny said, there was no reason for the boy to believe the person that tried to murder him. "But its not like you are the first person to be killed because of him."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked confused by the last sentence.  
"You really don't know do ya? When he took over the throne four years ago this kingdom fell into darkness. People are starving and for the first time in two hundred years slave trades has been legalized. He even went into war with the neighboring kingdom for no other reason than to kill."

Jack wasn't in a fighting position anymore, he had stumbled back and were leaning against a tree.

"If you don't believe me, then you just have to get to the closest city and see for yourself." Bunny told Jack. "If you think everything lookes normal then you just have to return to the castle and tell them about how I tried to assassinate you."

"And if what I see makes me convinced that you're right. What then?" Jack asked the pooka.  
"If you don't want to die then I suggest you flee, run away and never come back. Make it impossible for him to find you so that he will think you're dead. I will go back to the castle and tell him I completed my mission. Then its up to you if you are coming back or not." Bunnymund told Jack.

Jack felt like just returning to the castle, he wanted to go to Pitch and make sure that everything were a lie. But what if it wasn't a lie? He knew that it hadn't been such lucky years for the kingdom the last years, but all he had been told were about an increase in robbery and murders. He hadn't heard of starving and slaves. Jack was afraid, what if he went into town and everything was true? What was he supposed to do then?

Even though he just wanted to get back to the castle and pretend that nothing had happened he still knew that he needed to know the truth. So instead of flying towards the safety of the castle he took the way into town.

* * *

_I think Bunny became a bit too much out of character in this chapter ^^' That might be because I don't know how to do or write in a Australian accent xD hahaha_

I will probably not update again before Monday or Friday... ehehe... My 20th birthday is on Sunday and I will have friends over both Saturday and Sunday. I know that I will get the ten first true blood books in present from my parents so I will probably be reading them like a maniac for ten days xD So we'll see how good I'll be on updating. I'll try to write one on Monday.

Btw, this was a very hard chapter for me to write. I didn't know at all how I were going to pull off this scene ^^' I hope its not too bad. He will get to the children in the next chapter, I promise xD 


	10. Chapter 10: Home

Jack looked insecure at the edge of the forest. If the town were as bad as Bunny had made it sound like, then he would probably see some of it as fast as he stepped out of the forest since it ended on a hill, from where a big part of the city could be seen.

He took a hard grip around his staff, his hand shook a bit. He took some uncertain steps forward, soon he would reach the last trees that were in his way to see. Jack didn't even dare to look up, his eyes were watching the ground and soon the trees around him were gone. He swallowed before taking a deep breath, then he looked up while hoping that everything had been a lie.

His heart were beating faster than the wings of a hummingbird as he looked out over the part of the city that was visible from there. It seemed like a fire recently had bothered that part of town since a lot of houses seemed burnt. There wasn't many people out there but everyone Jack could see were wearing tattered and dirty clothes. None seemed to have clothes that was warm enough for winter. He couldn't be sure though since he couldn't feel cold at all.

Jack flied up to a roof a bit into the town to get a better view. He didn't think that it could get worse than the burnt houses and the people that walked around in too cold clothes. But he was wrong.

Just a bit into town he could already see the horrors that was torturing the kingdom. A bit here and there he could see body parts showing from under the snow. People that had frozen to death in the middle of the night and then been covered with snow. The few people that had a home barely could afford food, while those without a home had to resist the cold during winter.

Jack felt sickened by the bodies and the state the town were in. Almost all houses were damaged in some way, broken windows or a hole in the wall from a fire.

Suddenly he could hear someone crying not too far away. Jack turned his head towards the noise and lifted from the roof. This time he landed on the ground in a alley where no one could see him. He walked to the end of the alley and looked out carefully just in case that someone suspicious was close. Maybe Pitch's talk about murderers and thieves made him a bit more cautious.

A bit away from the alley Jack could see a line of people in front of a carriage. A woman were lying on the ground crying, everyone of them had chains around their feet.

_"You really don't know anything, do ya?" _ Bunnymund's words echoed through his head. _"for the first time in twohundred years slave trades has been legalized." _Jack held his hands over his ears and took some steps back into the alley before falling down to his knees.

"It can't be." Jack mumbled to himself.  
_"He even went into war with the neighboring kingdom for no other reason than to kill." _The words felt even louder when he remembered those words. Could Pitch really have done that to the kingdom?

"What should I do now?" Jack asked himself. Until know he had thought that the biggest problem he would have to face would be an arranged marriage or something like that. Why did Pitch want to kill him? How could he stand in Pitch way when he didn't even know anything about what Pitch were doing?

"What should I do?" He repeated as he held his staff in a harder grip, waiting for some kind of sign from his father. A sign that didn't come.

_"If you don't want to die then I suggest you flee, run away and never come back." _Jacks head flew up as he remembered what Bunnymund had told him to do. But where would he go? He already knew the answer though. Somewhere Pitch wouldn't be able to find him, somewhere no one would see him, somewhere deep in the forest where no one would ever dare to go.

* * *

Pitch walked back and forth, just waiting for good or bad news. Either a pooka would walk in and tell him the mission was completed or a kid would run in and tell him about an attempt to assassinate him.

He couldn't relax at all, if that boy could mess up his plans then he had to destroy him no matter what before it was too late.

Soon the door opened and Pitch turned to look, of some reason he felt a bit disappointed that it was the bunny that came through the doors and not the boy. But he didn't let that feeling stay for long from the moment he noticed it. This was something he should feel happy about.

"That went faster than expected, did you do everything I told you?" Pitch asked as he reached out his hands to take the chest in Bunnymunds hands.

"I carved out his heart and then got rid of his body where no one will ever find it. That boy won't disturb you again." Bunnymund told Pitch. "Now to your part of the deal."

Pitch looked straight into the pookas eyes, it was hard to find people who dared to speak up like that to the king. But since his problems were gone he would ignore the rude tone Bunnymund gave him.

"The east forest of Kalliham is now your territory and if anyone intrudes you are free to do whatever you want with them. From now on it is forbidden for humans to enter into that forest. That should give you some peace and quiet." Pitch said as he picked up a document and gave it to Bunnymund.

Kalliham was a city not far from there where Bunnymunds kind had lived. The east forest and the mountains behind had been their home. But after his people had been massacred, Bunny hadn't been able to return there because of the humans that still wanted to get rid of his kind completely. Now he would finally be able to go home, even if no one would be there to welcome him.

* * *

_And I am back :3 I will be gone next weekend too because we will visit my sister ^^' But I will try to give you a lot of chapters until then x3  
_  
_This is the first time I actually give a city a name xD I haven't even named the kingdom they are in xD But I felt it necessary in this chapter since I knew that Pitch would give him land :3 _

_I know I promised you the seven children in this chapter, sorry it didn't happen xD I didn't think that I would put so much into the town part so I just had to wait with the seven children since I knew that it would probably become another thousand words xD _

_Bye bye, see you next time :3_


	11. Chapter 11: The cabin

Jack flew through the forest, he almost hit the trees a couple of times, but he didn't let that slow him down. Soon he came to a part of the forest he had never been in before. He usually went into the forest, but never so deep into it so he no longer could see the castle if he flew over the trees.

The forest became darker and darker when he got further into it. The trees grew closer to each other and made it impossible for the sunlight to reach the ground. Jack felt the need to fly over the trees to see where he was, but didn't because of the fear of someone seeing him and report it to Pitch. Even if they didn't report it to Pitch it wasn't impossible for him to get to know about it somehow.

Soon the trees were so close to each other so Jack had to slow down and eventually walk so he wouldn't fly into something. He walked carefully around, watching his every step. It was hard to see since he was more used to bright places. Barely any snow had been able to get beneath the thick layer of leaf.

He could hear a howling somewhere close by, it might have been a wolf. He also heard an owl very close to himself, and just seconds later he could see its eyes starring at him from a branch a couple of trees away.

More noises came from bushes and from even deeper parts of the forest. Jack became more and more paranoid for every little noise that was added to the forest symphony.

Then a flapping sound came up behind him, almost as if it were charging right at him. Jack turned around instinctively and held his staff high, ready for whatever was trying to attack him.

The little hummingbird stopped just before it would have smashed into Jacks staff.  
"You." Jack gasped. It was the same hummingbird he had seen that same day.  
"What are you doing here?" Jack asked even though he didn't expect it to answer. But the little bird like creature started to talk, or at least it sounded like it tried to talk but it wasn't something Jack could understand. Though the gesture it did with its small hands made him pick up one thing.

"Did you follow me?" He asked, not angry, just curious, and a bit happy that he wasn't completely alone. Babytooth nodded.

"So, do you know this place by any chance? Is there some place where we wouldn't have to worry about wild animals?" Jack asked Babytooth. He didn't know how well the little creature knew that forest, but he could always give it a try.

Babytooth smiled happily and fast flew deeper into the forest, too fast for Jack to follow her. She turned around and flew back to Jack and pulled on his sleeve to make him follow her.

"Take it easy, lets go slowly or else we might hurt ourselves." Jack tried to calm her down. Babytooth wasn't that happy about being slowed down but she accepted it and waited patiently on Jack. If he flew then he could crash into branches and if he walked then he could fall into holes. It was hard to see anything at all at that point, so he assumed that the sun had gone down.

It didn't take long before they came to a small clearing in the forest. The sun had gone down as he had suspected. No stars could be seen, clouds were covering the sky.

Jack didn't get to look at the sky for long before Babytooth almost flew into his face.  
"What?" He exclaimed as he back a step in surprise. She pointed towards her right side and Jack looked towards where she pointed.

There was a small house. It looked very old and it seemed like no one lived there. There was no candles turned on and it had holes in the roof. Some of the windows seemed to have been smashed too. But even if it was in a bad shape it could function as a shelter.

"Do you think someone lives there?" Jack asked the little hummingbird. She shrugged, she had only been in that part of the forest a couple of times before and had never seen anyone use the cabin during those times.

Jack walked up to the cabin and knocked on the door, then he flew up on the roof just in case someone would come out. He didn't want to be seen by other people, especially not people he didn't know. He had to make sure that no one could tell Pitch about him. But no one came out of the cabin.

He flew down and knocked again, this time he stood at the door and listened for footsteps. Nothing. But they could be asleep. So he tried one more time a bit harder. Still not a sound. Then he gave Babytooth an insecure look before opening the door.

Even though it was dark he could still see that everything were a total mess. Things were lying scattered on the floor and if it had been a bit brighter then he would also have noticed the thick layer of dust that covered everything in the cabin.

Jack closed the door behind himself and started to walk up the stairs, he didn't see anything that could prove or disprove that someone was living there so he just had to check if someone were in the cabin.

On the top floor there was only two doors, the first door he opened led into a broom cupboard. The other one led into a bedroom. He looked around at the seven beds.  
"Don't they seem a bit small?" Jack mumbled to himself and walked up to one of the empty beds. They were too small for an adult, but it was the right size for a child.

He kneeled down at the edge of the bed, something was written on it. He blew away a layer of dust from the words and cleaned it a bit with his hand.  
"Jamie.." He read out loud. "I wonder why all the beds are for kids. There weren't any beds downstairs." Jack continued to mumble. He was pretty certain that they didn't live there any longer, mostly because of all the dust, the disorder and because it already was night time and no one were in the house.

But he didn't think about it for long. He noticed how tired he was when he suddenly started to yawn. Even Babytooth yawned a bit and started to rub her eye like a child.

"I guess we could rest here for tonight." Jack suggested and they both laid down in the beds. He had to put the beds together in a row to be able to fit if he didn't want to lay really uncomfortably. For Babytooth it was much easier since she was so small. She simply laid down on a pillow beside Jack and immediately fell asleep. For Jack it took a bit longer to fall asleep, he thought about everything that had happened during the day. But after some time he felt his eyes close themselves and his mind wandered into dreams.

* * *

_Okay, in the next chapter the children will come. It should be impossible for me to not get them into the next chapter! or? x3  
_


	12. Chapter 12: Seven children

It was the middle of the night. Seven kids, three girls and four guys, walked through the forest. Even though they weren't dressed for the cold they still didn't complain. A blonde girl that seemed to be much younger than the others shuddered a bit, making a brown haired boy turn to her and lay a hand over her shoulder.

"You okay Sophie?" He asked the girl and she nodded before she yawned. "Don't worry, we're soon home." He tried to comfort her.

"We would be home hours ago if someone hadn't messed up in the middle of work." A girl said irritated, she was a bit bigger than the other kids.

"I'm sorry." A shy blond haired boy mumbled.

"Stop picking on Monty, I were the one telling him to do stuff he weren't ready to do yet." The brown haired boy told the big girl before looking at the blond haired boy named Monty. "Next time I'll take the hunting and you'll just stick with collecting wood for the fireplace." He told Monty who nodded with a small smile before looking down into the ground again, a bit ashamed over not being able to do as much as the others because of his insecurity in everything he did.

A dark skinned boy that walked a bit behind the group had yawned many times and it almost looked like he were already asleep even though he were walking.  
"Caleb." Another boy said, a boy that looked very much like the Caleb. "We're almost back in the house, don't fall asleep yet." He continued.

"Even if he falls asleep he will probably just keep walking anyways." Said a tall short haired girl just before she sneezed.

* * *

The children soon came to a small cabin deep in the woods. No one said a word as they walked in, they knew too well that there was no one there that would welcome them home.

While the others started to make a fire in the fireplace and make some food for themselves, Caleb started to slowly walk up the stairs, heading towards the bedroom. He knew that he were too tired to eat so it would be best to just go to bed and eat first at breakfast.

The others ate their bread in silence and warmed themselves at the fireplace. But the peace they felt at that moment didn't last long. Suddenly Caleb rushed down the stairs, wide awake. Something they didn't see often.

"Something... or someone is lying in our beds." He said a bit shocked, and the others looked at each other.

"Are you sure you didn't dream it brother? You were more than half asleep when you walked up. Who would be this deep into the forest?" The other dark skinned boy asked. After so much time being isolated out there, it felt unrealistic that someone would actually show up out of nowhere.

"I swear to the moon, someone is up there." Caleb said with a serious tone.

After some discussions about what to do about it they decided to just go up and check who it was that had intruded and then decide what to do with the person. They all took things like big sticks, kitchen knifes and other things they could protect themselves with in case it would get dangerous.

A brown haired kid walked first.  
"Be careful Jamie." The tall, skinny girl whispered to him. He nodded and gave her a reassuring smile, even though his heart were about to jump out of his chest. He were afraid, not for himself but for his friends. He didn't want them to get hurt because of an intruder. They had escaped to that cabin because no one would ever find them out there. The only way to protect his friends and his little sister were to go somewhere where the war wouldn't reach them.

Jamie sneaked into the room, as silent as a mouse. Behind him came the others. Sophie was the last person to enter the room, even though Jamie had told her to stay downstairs.

Whoever it was that had intruded were covered completely in a blanket, so in order to see who or what it was they would have to move it. Jamie walked closer to the beds that Jack had put together. He reached a hand towards the blanket and slowly he slid it off the young man that was lying on the beds.

The white haired boy were in a deep sleep and didn't wake up by the blankets movement. Everyone looked at him with big eyes, they didn't know what they had expected to find, but a white haired teenager was far down on the list.

Suddenly Babytooth woke up and noticed the people in the room. She flew up scared and made a twittering sound which woke Jack.  
"What?" He asked automatically when he heard Babytooth freak out. But just half a second later he noticed the children that were staring, now from the other side of the room since they had backed off a bit when Babytooth almost flew into their faces.

Jack fast grabbed his staff and jumped out of the beds. He wasn't certain at all what he should do. Escape without a word and hope they just forgot about finding a stranger in there, or tell them he thought it was abandoned and asked them not to tell anyone about him before leaving. The later seemed as a better alternative even though it may make them suspicious.

"Who are you?" The big girl asked grumpily. Her voice was a bit threatening and she looked like she was ready for an attack at any moment. Jack forced himself not to laugh, he couldn't really take a threat from a child seriously.

"Cupcake, take it easy." Jamie told her as he held his hand in front of her to make her back off a bit. Then he turned his head to Jack. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" He asked Jack with a more even tone, not too friendly but not threatening or rude either.

"I'm Jack." He answered without thinking, just a second afterwards he remembered that it would have been better if no one knew his name. He hit himself mentally before answering the second question. "I had to find a shelter for the night and I thought this house were abandoned so I took the chance to rest here."

Jamie gave Jack a smile. He was certain that Jack hadn't lied to him. "Where are you heading too? There's nothing to be found this deep into the forest. You should just turn around and get back home tomorrow morning." Jamie told the teenager. The clothes Jack wore showed that his family had money. It was a good material and it wasn't torn anywhere, it wasn't too dirty either which showed that he could change clothes often. Jamie pretty much guessed that Jack was a runaway.

"I wish I could go home, but that's impossible." Jack said. The others that were standing behind Jamie had started to relax a bit more and now were more curious than frightened.  
"Did something happen?" The tall girl asked.  
"Its a really long story." Jack said simply, not intending to tell anyone what had happened.  
"Tell us." Jamie said.  
"I can't." Jack replied.  
"Jack, trust me. We have been through a lot, you can trust us with your story. And if there's something we can do to help, then let us help." Jamie told him.

Jack looked into the small boys brown eyes. Even though the boy was young he was talking as if he were an adult. Something in the boys eyes and voice made Jack want to trust him.

Cupcake didn't seem pleased at all with Jamie's speech, she obviously didn't want to be a part of helping a stranger. But for the moment she didn't say anything, even though she didn't confess it she was also a bit curious about what had happened for someone to come so far into the forest.

Jack told them about his fathers death and how Pitch married his mother who later died. Told them how Pitch always had been like a father to him but suddenly sent an assassin after him. Then he told them that he had escaped into the forest since his stepfather wasn't allowed to know that Jack was alive.

Everyone was dead silent as they listened to Jacks story. Caleb weren't able to fall asleep during the story, even though he never had been able to listen to a person talking for too long before. His brother weren't able to smile at all, even though he had smiled every moment of his life since they moved into the forest. Cupcake wasn't even able to pretend to be angry towards Jack while hearing the story.

A silence fell over the room as Jack was finished with his story. After some time Jamie decided to speak.  
"So you have to find a place to stay where you can be kept hidden from the king." Jamie said, mostly to himself. He were in deep thoughts for just a moment while all eyes had turned to him. "Well, I guess you can stay here." He then concluded.

"Are you mad?" Cupcake almost yelled at him. "We can barely get food for ourselves, especially since its winter. We already have three people that barely can do what needs to be done, we don't need a fourth." She complained and gave some angry glances at Sophie, Caleb and Monty.

"Stop it Cupcake. Caleb can't help that he's tired all the time, Sophie is only five and Monty does his best. Jack can probably help us with something, and we'll fix the extra food that's needed somehow. We have made it before during hard time and we'll do it now too." Jamie lectured Cupcake. She became silent but still didn't seem to have completely given up on getting Jack out.

"Its nice of you to let me stay but I can't do that. If Pitch finds me then you'll get in trouble too." Jack told them. Those kids seemed to have trouble enough, he couldn't let himself be a burden to them. And he wasn't certain what he could do to help anyways. In the castle there was servants that took care of everything that had to be done, he had never hunted, made food or anything like that. He only knew how to have fun and play around. And he could clean a bit too, mostly since his mother had forced him to clean sometimes when he had misbehaved.

"As long as he doesn't find you then it won't be any problems. No one would ever find this place." Jamie encouraged Jack.

It took some time for Jamie to convince Jack to stay with them, everyone except Cupcake had also joined in with reasons why it would be better for Jack to stay with them than to leave. In the end Jack gave in to their suggestion of him staying with them, in return for food and shelter he would clean the house while they were out hunting. Since he couldn't be seen by others they had thought that it would be best for Jack to only stay inside. They would also teach him how to prepare fish and meat so he would be able to cook.

"Well, now that its decided that you'll stay with us, we should probably introduce ourselves too." Jamie said. "I'm Jamie, and this is my sister Sophie. She's five and I'm twelve." He said as he held a hand on his little sisters shoulder. "She doesn't talk much and she can be a bit dopey but she's really nice." Jamie told Jack with a small laughter as he ruffled her hair a bit.

"That's Pippa. She is also twelve. She sneezes a lot because of allergies but she cooks the best food." Jamie then continued as he pointed at the tall and skinny girl with short brown hair. She gave Jack a smile and waved her hand in a small motion.  
"And that's Monty. He's eleven and very shy but also very smart." As he pointed his hand towards Monty, the blonde boy hide his blushed face as much as he could behind his hair.

"That's Caleb and Claude. Twelve year old twins. Caleb has a sickness that makes him sleepy almost all the time, but he still tries his best to help us as much as possible. And Claude always has a bit too much energy and never gets in a bad mood."  
Claude smiled energetic towards Jack while Caleb had fallen asleep on his brothers shoulder. It had probably happened just as it had been decided that Jack would stay.

"And the scary looking girl over there is Cupcake, she will turn thirteen next month. She might seem frightening but she is a very nice person once you have gotten to know her." Cupcake turned her head away as Jack looked at her, he was pretty certain that she wouldn't let him get to know her too easily.

* * *

_This chapter became much longer than I intended it to be ^^' I had no idea how I were going to introduce everyone and make Jack stay with them xD But I guess I were able to fix that somehow xD I gave every child a bit of one disney snow white dwarfs personality just cause I wanted too. _

_And yes I have changed the children's age, I don't remember their normal age, I guess its around eight or ten. But I Needed them to be a bit older since if they had been eight now then they would have been around four or five when the hell broke loose in the kingdom. And for that young kids to try and take care of themselves in the middle of a forest, that would be a bit weird x3 So they were around 8-9 when they escaped except for Sophie that was around one or two._

At first I were going to use Jacks sister as one of the children but in the end I didn't since she doesn't have a name. Some people have named her Emma and others Pippa (probably since Pippa and Jacks sister has the same voice actor) But I thought that I didn't want to do that. I'm not certain if I will have Jacks sister in the story at all. In that case she will probably be the only one that won't appear at all. xD Poor her. 


	13. Chapter 13: The discovery

Footsteps echoed through the almost empty corridors deep down in the dungeons. A dark man walked with confident steps towards a room he had visited almost everyday for the last years. Though now he hadn't been there for almost a week. Mostly since he didn't feel a need to. The boy that could ruin his plans were gone, there was no reason for the Pooka to lie about that. There was no reason for him to protect a human. That's why pitch hadn't bothered to see if the heart in the box actually were Jack's.

But now, some days later, he felt that he needed to know if anyone else would stand in his way. If he needed to get rid of someone else that could become a threat to him.

He went into the room with the dark pool of sand. As he lifted his hand and made a gesture, the sand immediately went to the sides so that a mirror was shown in the middle. The golden man appeared in the mirror and looked up at the man that had made him a prisoner.

"Don't glare at me like that old friend. Without your help I wouldn't have been able to do everything I have done." Pitch protested with a pleased smile when Sanderson gave him a glare that would make anyone else freeze in fear. "So, now when that kid is gone there is no one to stand in my way, right?" Pitch asked with confidence.

Sanderson knew that Jack was alive, and he would have to tell Pitch about it even though he didn't want to. If only he hadn't been tricked by Pitch all those years ago, if only he hadn't been imprisoned by the dark sand. He knew all along that Pitch had changed after his daughters death, but he didn't want to see the darkness that had started to form in Pitch. If he had stopped pretending that it weren't there then maybe he could have saved Pitch earlier. He couldn't even call the man in front of him friend anymore, even though he wished that they still could go back to how they used to be. Now it was too late. Pitch would never return to his old self.

Unwillingly, Sanderson started to form the golden sand into shapes. Jack appeared in the sand and Pitch starred at the sand as if it was a ghost. Which for him it was.

"What is the meaning of this? Jack is dead, I have his heart as proof." Pitch almost screamed. The golden sand changed from the image of Jack to an image of a deer. The heart he had was not the heart of a human at all, it was just a normal animal.

"That rabbit, he tricked me." Pitch growled. "Now there's two troublemakers I have to deal with." He continued to mumble while the golden man looked at Pitch with pity and despise in his eyes. It was hard to hate a person that once were his friend, but he still tried to do it. If he would be able to get out of the mirror, then he would kill Pitch with his own hands. He would kill the enemy without feeling pity or sorrow for it. Afterwards he would grieve the friend he lost years ago.

"Tell me, where is the boy now?" Pitch finally asked after some thinking. The golden sand first started to form shapes, but then it suddenly fell apart. Sanderson couldn't make any image of the place. Sanderson appeared in the mirror again and shook his head.

"You don't know where he are?" Pitch asked with a surprised and angry expression and Sanderson shook his head again. "You can't lie to me, tell me where he is." Pitch growled and the black sand started moving around, feeling their masters anger and being filled with will to destroy.

But Sanderson calmly shrugged and gave the nightmare king a grin. Finally things weren't going as Pitch planned, and it made Pitch panic a lot. If he kept panicking then he would start making mistakes that soon would become his downfall.

But Pitch calmed down in front of Sandersons eyes. "Some kind of magic must be protecting him. It doesn't matter. I will find him sooner or later. For now I will get the hunter and see if he knows where the boy are. After that I will kill him before I get Jack." A grin appeared on Pitch face and he left Sanderson in the dark room alone once again.

* * *

The sun started to rise. As it shone in on the sleeping white haired boy he simply turned around away from the sun. He had been living with Jamie and the other kids for half a year already and still weren't used to the early mornings.

The kids were already up and had already started to eat their bread. It had been a hard winter, but somehow they had been able to survive it even though they had an extra mouth to feed. It had become summer so it was easy for them to get food now. It was easier to hunt and even if they didn't succeed with the hunting they could always eat fish or mushrooms or other things that grew around in the forest. The summers had never been a problem for them since they started to live out there.

What worried them was Jack. It had been hard for the boy to stay inside during winter, especially since he loved the cold weather. But he wanted to go out during the summer too and play around and have fun. The only one that liked to play around more than Jack was probably Sophie. She were too young to understand the seriousness of their situation, while Jack simply hadn't been in a situation that had shocked him enough to stop fooling around.

"Finally learnt how to get up early, Jack?" Jamie commented with a happy grin as Jack walked down the stairs. The teenager made a tired sound as he sat down with the others.  
"You going out again today?" Jack asked them even though he knew the answer. They were so many so they had to get food almost every day, or wood to the fireplace, or water to cook food with, or more wood to repair the small house when it became too damaged. There was always something they had to do.

"Yeah. We'll probably send Sophie with whatever food we can get some hours before we finish everything. So start preparing the dinner as fast as she gets here." Jamie said even though he knew Jack already knew that. They usually said the same things in the morning before they left. Jack asked questions he already knew the answer to but was too tired to care about that fact. And Jamie reminded Jack about the food and that he should be careful not to go out and not to talk to strangers.

"Don't go out while we are gone Jack, and if you hear someone coming close to the house, don't show yourself. Just hide." Jamie told Jack, as usual. Even though Jamie only were 13, he still acted like an overprotective big brother. He acted the same way towards Sophie, if not more.

Jack answered by nodding. He weren't a morning person, so he behaved a bit introvert before he had fully woken up. Every time the others got home Jack was in high spirit and ready to do whatever as long as he could get his energy out somewhere. But the others were often too tired for that so it always ended with Jack and Jamie sitting down and talking about stories from their childhood, even though Jamie still were a child. Jack was the one that talked the most since he was older and remembered most things he used to do with his parents. Jamie had just turned 13, and he had only been eight when the war started so he didn't have that many happy memories with his parents or friends.

Most of Jamies stories were about the time they had lived out in the woods, he only talked about the spring and summer seasons, since those were the times when they could relax more and actually have fun. He also told Jack some stories from before the war, when he lived with his mother and his little sister. Jack had wanted to ask what had happened to everyone's parents, but in the end he hadn't dared to do so.

Jack had a pretty easy life out there in the woods, he couldn't help the others much since they didn't allow him to go out in case some of the kings spies would be close by. But he had learned how to cook, clean and repair broken things. Also after Cupcake had gotten used to Jack she had taught him how to do wood carvings and build things like chairs, tables and other furniture He helped as much as he could from inside the house and the others were completely fine with the small things he did. Without Jack the house would probably still be full with dust and look like a haunted house.

* * *

_Wow, I haven't written for a week o.O Lazy me ^^'  
Aaw, Jack is having a fun time in the forest with his new friends :3 Don't worry, Pitch will soon ruin that ^^  
I think Bunnymund will appear in the next chapter and I might even make half the chapter about Sanderson's and Pitch's past. Its a reeeeaaally angsty story! I think! I have some angsty pictures in my head at least. But I'm not certain if I will have their past in the story at all. Maybe I will just keep hinting a bit about their past x3 hahaha We'll see._

Question time:  
Are the children going to figure out Jack's power over winter?  
Answer: I remembered to check the reviews after I had written the chapter, if I had read the reviews before that I would probably have had some flashback in the chapter where the children got to know about Jack's power. They got to know it shortly after he moved in. Next time I write a chapter with Jack and the children I will try to remember to make them think back on that time so everyone that are reading can see how they reacted on that surprise xD 


	14. Chapter 13,5: Pitch's past

_I wrote this chapter very fast at the same night I wrote the last chapter. I didn't intend to make it so long, but now it became long anyways. Pitch's daughter doesn't really have an official name even if it is said that William Joyce had said in an interview that her name was Seraphina. So I will just go for Seraphina even though it might not be her name. In the next chapter it will be more Jack xD_

* * *

"Sandy, you came." The golden man turned around when he heard the familiar voice. A tall dark man smiled happily as he walked towards the much shorter man. Sanderson smiled back, he wanted to say 'of course, why wouldn't I come?' But that was something he couldn't do.

He had lost his voice long ago because of a sickness. But he didn't miss it much. He was always so absored in his books so he rarely spoke to people anyway. Though sometimes he missed his voice since he wanted to be able to make remarks and comments a bit now and then. But soon he might be able to do so.

Not too long ago he had found a magic spell that could make sand move around at ones will. Very few could actually use these kind of spells, so he had been lucky when it had worked. Though he hadn't been able to make them move exactly as he wanted them to. To be able to control the sand better he had made himself become one with the sand. He now was the sand. People around him had started to wonder if he even had any real body underneath the sand, he wasn't certain himself if he still had his real body underneath the sand or not. Maybe his body was gone and his consciousness was using his powers to keep the sand together as a body.

After he had become one with the sand it had been much easier to form things, but he still needed a lot of training. It took him a lot of time to form the sand and it wasn't always that people could understand what the pictures the sand had formed into was. There was only some few people that understood him completely. Or at least 90% of the time. North, his friend that just had become a king. And Pitch, his childhood friend.

Pitch patted his friend on the shoulder in a friendly gesture. This was the first time Sanderson saw Pitch without his golden uniform. But there was no reason for Pitch to have it on when he weren't on duty. The two friends walked through the crowd in the small town. Almost every person they passed made a small bow towards Pitch, and he tried to bow back every time he noticed them. He was the general in the army and he had led the country into a golden age. He was respected by many since he had saved the country more than once.

As they came closer to Pitch's house, Sanderson formed a woman with his sand, and then a child beside the woman. Pitch understood immediately what he meant.  
"They are both fine." He said with a bright smile as they arrived at his house. He opened the door and walked inside.

A small girl with long black hair ran towards the door. "Papa." She said, almost singing it.  
"Seraphina, have you grown while I was away? I can barely lift you." Pitch said as he lifted his ten year old daughter. He had been away for almost half a year and had returned first that day. Sanderson and Pitch had exchanged letters so he knew that Pitch would return that day, he had just been lucky to get into town at exactly the same time as Pitch.

"Who is that?" She asked, looking curiously at the golden man. Sandy smiled and waved his and to say hello.  
"This is my good friend Sanderson." Pitch said and put Seraphina down on the floor so she could welcome their guest properly. At first she were a bit shy for the golden man, but soon she got mesmerized by his funny golden pictures even though he couldn't change them too fast.

After that day Sandy returned to Pitch house many times both when he were on duty and not. He trained his sand powers by entertaining Pitch's daughter, and Pitch was pleased that his family didn't have to be home alone while he worked. Even his wife enjoyed Sandy's company, even though she would prefer if her husband could be home more.

Sometimes when Sandy and Pitch had some time alone, Sandy taught Pitch how to control the sand. He weren't that good at it though, he could lift it just a little bit and form a small amount of it.

The years passed by and soon Sanderson got to know from North that he had gotten a son. Sanderson left Pitch and his family to meet his other friend. He stayed with North, Toothiana and their son Jack for over a year. He returned to Pitch first when he stopped receiving letters from his old friend. All that waited him when he got there was an empty house. Pitch and his family was suddenly gone.

* * *

Nothing had changed after Sanderson had left. Seraphina was already a teenager and even though she missed her golden friend she still didn't need him in her everyday life. Her dad usually disappeared for months, sometimes over half a year, so she was used to people leaving for a long time and then coming back.

For Pitch it was a bit sad that he didn't get to see his friend when he returned home, but he had been separated from his friend before. They still sent each other letters and kept in touch. And one day they would meet each other again.

"Where are you going?" Pitch asked his daughter as she were on her way out.  
"Just out for a bit. I will be back soon." She ensured him. She loved the nature and always went to the forest. She often played around more with animals than with humans, though family members and Sandy was an exception.

"Be careful, and don't come home too late again." A sweet voice said from behind pitch. His wife were a beautiful woman, with pitch black long hair. She was a bit taller than her daughter and her hair was more straight, while Seraphinas hair was wavy.

Seraphina promised to be careful and watch the time, then she almost flew out in excitement.  
"Don't worry so much, or else you will get grey hair." She told her husband as she saw his worried expression. But that didn't stop Pitch from worrying, something made him feel uneasy this day.

The day passed by and nothing seemed to be wrong in the small town. It was first when it became dark outside that even Pitch's wife started to worry since their daughter still weren't home.

"We should go out and search after her." His wife said.  
"I'll do it. You stay here in case she gets back." Pitch replied and left the house. He had a lantern with him, since he would have to go into the forest. After all, his daughter loved nature and was most likely there. She was never late if she stayed in town.

He searched through the woods almost the whole night, and he returned home many times to see if she had shown up or to refill the oil in the lantern. Pitch didn't want to give up the search, he had to know that his daughter were fine before he could stop walking. As the sun started to rise Pitch was walking on a small beach. There was a high and dangerous cliff at that beach, and taking the way over the beach was more safe than walking into the forest and up the cliff.

He soon noticed something black a bit away, half in the water and half on the sand. His heart started to beat faster, he tried to convince himself that it was just some seaweed. But even though that's what he told himself he were still running as fast as he could. Soon he could see that most of the black was hair and a dress, the rest of the being had almost the same color as the sand. He slowed down, not wanting to see who the unfortunate soul was. He didn't want to know who the woman was that had fallen down from the cliff. The woman that in so many ways looked like his daughter even though he still hadn't seen her face.

Tears rolled down from his eyes as he turned the body and saw his daughters face. Her eyes were shut closed and she was pale as a ghost.

A heartbreaking scream could be heard all the way to town as Pitch realized that his daughter was dead. As he screamed, the sand on the beach started to surround the dead body and Pitch. It reacted on his anger, and slowly the light brown sand turned black. Pitch was too devastated to even notice. It started to crawl up on his body and soon it covered him completely. Nightmares, hate, horrors, darkness. All those feelings had been forced into the dark sand and now they were becoming one with the one that had created them.

It soon released the man whose skin now were grey instead of his normal beige color. Pitch didn't care, he just saw his dead daughter in his arms while knowing that there was nothing he could do about it. His worst nightmare had come true.

After some time just sitting there he started to walk towards his home with Seraphina in his arms. As Pitch opened the door and walked into the house, his wife ran towards the two of them. First she was happy because Pitch had found their daughter, but soon she noticed that the body Pitch held wasn't moving at all.

She cried all day while Pitch grieved in silence. As the evening came closer Pitch knew that he had to go and talk to his superior. He couldn't go back to work while his wife were grieving, he couldn't let her go through it alone. The nightmares still hadn't control over his mind even though they had become a part of him.

He left his wife for a couple of hours, when he returned he found her dead body on the bed. She had cut her throat open and probably died within a minute. Pitch fell to the floor when he saw the body. He knew that there were a note lying beside her, but he couldn't find the strength to read it. The sand started to appear again and moved around in the room, taking in the horrible scene and Pitch's mind. If it weren't for the sand he would probably have followed his wife that day. But with his emotions so messed up, the nightmare sand Pitch had created on the beach took over his body and mind.

* * *

Sanderson had searched after his friend for a couple of years, he wondered what had happened to Pitch and his family. He hoped nothing bad had happened. He never found Pitch, but Pitch found him.

One evening when Sanderson were walking down the street, he suddenly heard some kind of sound from behind. He turned around a bit scared, and let his sand surround him so he could defense himself if someone attacked.

"Now now, we shouldn't be like that old friend." A tall dark man with gray skin walked out of the shadows. Sandy had a hard time realizing it was Pitch at first because of the dark and because the mans eyes now glowed yellow and he had a different skin color. But as fast as he recognized him he started to smile.

But right after the happy feeling washed over him another worried feeling also came. He started to make pictures of Pitch's wife and child and then a question mark. Immediately afterwards he started to make other pictures with the sand that showed how worried he had been and he wondered where Pitch had been.

"Don't worry." Pitch said with a weird grin Sandy hadn't seen before. "We should talk about this somewhere else. Shall we?" Pitch motioned with his hand towards an alley and started to walk first to show Sanderson the way. Sandy followed a bit hesitantly, but it was his good friend, he shouldn't have anything to worry about. They had known each other their whole life. Pitch seemed to have changed both in appearance and behavior, but even though Sandy felt very uncomfortable around his old friend he still thought that it was because he was worried.

Even though his mind were screaming danger, he ignored it. First when the black sand were surrounding him and holding him down, he realized what a fool he had been. "You're such a fool old friend." Pitch told the golden man. He had offered Sanderson a place in his army to take over the kingdom and eventually the world. But Sanderson had said no, and just tried to make Pitch tell him what had happened to him. "I give you more chance, think about it. You and me, side by side like the old days. Ruling over those pitiful humans, make them fear us." Sanderson shook his head.

"I'm sorry that you feel that way. But I need your golden sand, so I'm afraid I can't let you go." Pitch said and took forth a mirror. The sand that held Sanderson started to pull him towards the mirror and even though he struggled he soon found himself captured. "I know everything about the sand of fortune. The golden sand can tell the forture. With that, no one will be able to stop me."

'Those who can control the magic sand is few  
Those who learn to control it will notice that the sand will become as their owners  
If the heart is pure the sand is too, and it will obey the one that created it  
If the heart is filled with darkness, then the sand will be even darker. And soon it will consume the owner.'

That's what the spell book said about the sand, if Sanderson had never taught his friend about the magic spell then he would never have tested it. Even though Pitch had been bad at using it he still had started to use it at one point of his life. Even though he stopped using it for years the magic was still there. First when his heart felt a desire for something, that's when the magic could be awakened.

* * *

_I'm not that happy with the ending, but I guess the rest of the chapter is okay xD I had this chapter both because I wanted to talk about the magic sand and because I had to present Pitch daughter somehow xD hahah Hope you enjoyed :3 Please leave a review so I know what you think ^^_


	15. Chapter 14: Lost and found

Deep down in the dungeons, Bunnymund were locked up in a cell. Even though he had thought that he would be able to fight whoever or whatever the king would send after him once he figured out that the kid were alive, he had been mighty wrong. It went much faster than expected, he couldn't understand how Pitch had gotten to know about it in just some weeks.

It had taken Pitch's soldiers months to catch him. Sometimes he had fought whoever came at him, sometimes he simply avoided them. But in the end it was futile, he was somehow caught. He wasn't sure at all what had happened that night, he could only remember the dark, and the fear. How long had it been since he had actually felt fear?

Footsteps. Bunnymund reacted to the sound and stood up from the dirty floor in his cell. The footsteps were still far away, he wasn't even certain if they would come to him yet. It all depended on which turn the man would take.

It was always Pitch that came down into the dungeons, never anyone else. The dark man didn't go to Bunny's part of the dungeon that often. For the most he went to some other part. He had no idea what was in that part, but he often heard Pitch speak to someone even though no one responded. At least not what he could hear.

Bunny had been there for three month's already, he had barely any strength left in his body. If he wouldn't be able to break out soon, then he would definitely die. The only thing he got was water. When he woke up from having been asleep he often noticed that there were a glass of water standing in his cell. It was weird that he never heard when Pitch came with it, since he always used to wake up from sounds. The only reason he got it was probably because Pitch wanted to make him suffer for as long as possible before he died. If he didn't get water nor food then he would die after two or four weeks. Pookas could make it longer than normal humans. With just a little water per day he could make it for half a year, if he were in really good health then maybe a whole year. But it was a painful process.

The only reason he kept drinking the water were because he wanted to survive, he wanted to escape from the dungeons and kill Pitch. And he was certain that some day he would be able to escape.

Now he could hear which way Pitch was heading. He was heading towards Bunnymunds cell. Pitch was still certain that the big Pooka knew where Jack was hiding, and Bunny was as pleased every time he got to hear that Jack still hadn't been found. Even though his silence had made him go through some really bad nights, it had still been worth it. He just couldn't let that kid get in the hands of that man.

"I see you're still alive." Pitch said as he approached Bunny. Even though Bunny tried to look strong and fearsome, it didn't really work that well with the pain from starvation and nights of tortures.

"I told you many times already, I have no freaking idea where that kid is." Bunny almost growled at Pitch as he gave the king an almost deadly glare.

"Of some reason I have a hard time believing that. But your betrayal is good enough reason for you to be here. Why did you save him anyway? To go that far for a human." Pitch said the last word as a cursing. He was curious about that, the Pooka hadn't cared for humans before. That's why he was perfect for the job. Why had he saved Jack? Pitch had asked many times, but never gotten any answer.

"Non of your business" If glares could kill, then Pitch would have been in trouble. But Pitch felt more amused by the Pookas stubbornness than frightened by it.

"I wonder what I have to do to make you talk." Pitch said with a cruel grin.

* * *

It had been ten months since Jack had escaped to the forest and met Jamie and the others. The first snow had started to fall, even though it were a bit early for it. Jamie had even asked Jack to make sure that it weren't his doing, because that would give them unnecessary attention.

They had all known about Jacks abilities for a long time. The first time they saw it were when Sophie fell in the stares and started to cry. Jack, Jamie and Pippa had tried to comfort her, but nothing had helped. So Jack started to make some frost on the window, he made the frost into a rabbit and then concentrated really hard to make the rabbit jump out of the window and go down to Sophie. She became really happy.

Jamie had been really surprised, and thought it was cool. Some of the others agreed with Jamie, while others stopped trusting Jack for some time. But it didn't take many weeks before everyone were comfortable around the teen. Even Cupcake submitted in the end.

It took some time for anyone to dare talking to Jack about it, but after some time Monty decided to get over his shyness and ask. Jack hadn't even realized that his powers were something special before that, since he had used it all his life it was completely normal for him.

"We'll be going now Jack." Jamie told him as he went down the stairs.  
"Already?" He asked.  
"Since it started snowing earlier than we are used to, we have to prepare everything for winter." Jamie explained. Even though they had thought about not going anywhere that day, those plans had been ruined by the cold weather.

They left Jack alone in the cabin. He were used to it, but it didn't make him feel less bored. Babytooth were flying just over Jack's right shoulder. She had come and gone a lot, for the most she were with Jack, but sometimes she disappeared for some days before returning again. It was probably because she didn't like to be locked up in the house all the time, just like Jack.

"Should we go out for a while?" He asked Babytooth eventually. She started to fly around and she made whistling noises that sounded like a big no.  
"Common, if we are close by, and keep to the thickest part of the forest, then there's no chance anyone will see us. No one goes out here anyways." Jack tried to convince the little hummingbird. First it seemed like she were thinking about it, but then she shook her head in disagreement.

"Please. Its the first snow of the year. Just five minutes." Jack did his best pleading face, and in the end Babytooth couldn't resist it. He could easily have just walked out without her agreeing to it, but she would probably have tried to tell the others about it later or even searched after them immediately.

They were both careful as they peeked out of the cabin. Even though he knew no one was ever out there, he still wanted to make sure. As usual it was empty. Not a soul except for Babytooth, Jack and the animals that might lurk around in the forest.

When Jack was certain that no one was out there he started to fly. He kept close to the ground though, so that no one would see him over the trees. He flied around the trees, almost testing his powers to see so he hadn't forgotten them. The hummingbird had no problems with keeping up with Jack's speed.

After some minutes of only flying aimlessly in the forest, he landed on the ground. He were laughing more than he had in a long time. If it had been more snow on the ground then he would have been able to make a snowman. But so far it was way too small amount to do anything with it. He could make more with his powers, but if someone would pass by and notice the great amount of snow that were on only one place then maybe Pitch would get to know.

Jack was paranoid about Pitch finding him, but at the same time he didn't want to be locked up inside forever. One day he would be forced to face Pitch, he knew that. And the others he lived with probably also knew that.

Suddenly he heard rustle from close by. Both Babytooth and Jack froze. First they looked towards the noise, then on each other and then back towards the noise. Jack took a finger up to his mouth, giving Babytooth a signal that she should be quiet. She kept silent as Jack approached a bush. He reached his staff towards the buss and pulled the leafs to the side.

"Nothing's here. Must have been a small animal." Jack said as he watched the empty ground behind the bush. Babytooth started to breath again after having hold her breath. When she knew there were no danger she immediately started to pull on Jack's shirt.

"Okay, okay. We'll get back to the cabin." Jack said and turned back.

* * *

In the castle, Pitch was sitting at the fireplace as he read a book. Suddenly one of his black sand creatures came in through the window. Pitch looked up from the book and then put it away on the table when he realized that the creature had something to tell him.

He looked into the horse shaped sand creatures golden eyes as he took in what it had seen. Then a smirk appeared on his lips.  
"Found you, Jack."

* * *

_NEVER TRUST RUSTLING BUSHES JACK D:  
In the next episode *cough* I mean chapter, we will see some shape shifting and poisoning x3 I take so much stuff from the books, and I haven't even read them o.O xD _


	16. Chapter 15: Poison

"Found you, Jack." Pitch said with a evil smirk. Now he could finally take care of the boy that had caused him so much trouble. But he didn't want to send someone to kill the boy. Instead he wanted to be there and see the boy die. Just to make sure that everything went exactly as planned this time. He could just send some guards to get the boy, but if they failed then he would be able to escape again and then maybe he wouldn't find him.

No, he had to do this himself. But he couldn't be certain of how strong Jack were at this point. If they fought then he couldn't be certain that he would win. He had to do something to trick Jack so he could kill the kid. Make the boy trust him and then stab him in the back, of course he wouldn't even bother to dirt his hands with someones blood. He just had to use the same method he had used on king Nicholas and Queen Toothiana, but a faster poison.

It would take three days before the boy died, but his powers would be drained immediately and he would look dead from the moment he consumed the poison. No one would notice that he would be alive, and even if they did notice how would they be able to make Pitch cure Jack? No one could touch him from inside his castle, no one was as strong as him, he were the king.

But to make Jack consume the poison he had to get close, he had to disguise himself. That wouldn't be a problem though. He had long ago learnt how to use his sand to change his appearance.

He had the perfect plan, now it was time to put it into action.

* * *

Jack didn't tell the others about his small adventure the week before. If he had, then maybe they wouldn't have let him stay in the house completely alone during the days, and then maybe that unfortunate event wouldn't have taken place.

The children left jack alone in the cabin as they always did. Jack felt once again like going out, now when the snow had gotten a much thicker layer than the previous week. But he knew that Babytooth would tell on him this time if he went out. He couldn't let the others worry about him. So to stop thinking about the snow outside he started to clean inside, even though it already were as clean as it could get.

After an hour or two he heard someone knocking on the door. Babytooth had mostly been sitting on the table, waiting for Jack's sudden cleaning obsession to end. When she heard the knock on the door she flew up in surprise, while Jack turned his head towards the door. Both of them were confused and surprised over the sudden knock. No one ever came out there.

Jack started to move towards the door but Babytooth flew up in his face, trying to make him back away from it.  
"Calm down, I just want to see who it is." He said in a somewhat low voice so whoever was out there wouldn't here him. Babytooth started to shake her head and squeaked at him.  
"I know that they told me not to open the door, but whoever it is probably knows that someone are in here now when we have made a lot of noises. It would be rude not to open it." Jack said and walked past her. She tried to hold on to Jack's shirt to pull him backwards, but her small body couldn't make Jack stop.

He opened the door to find an old man with a black hood covering his head. He couldn't see the man's eyes, only his mouth. He was a bit shorter than Jack and needed a stick to walk. The stick were in his right hand while a basket with apples in it where hanging on his left arm.

"Are you lost?" Jack asked the old man.

"Yes, I am. Do you know the way out of this forest?" The old man asked with a wheezy voice.  
"I don't know it, but I know someone that can show you the way out." He said. Jack came to the forest ten month earlier, and he hadn't really looked where he was going, or flying, and since then he hadn't tried to get out so he would probably not be able to find the way. But Babytooth had shown him the way to the cabin, and she had flew out a lot of times on her own. She probably knew the way around.  
"What about if Babytooth? Can you show him the way out?" Jack asked his friend whom first looked at him a bit angry. "He's just an old man." Jack continued, which made her feel a bit guilty. Then she nodded. Jack turned back to look at the old man.  
"Just follow her and you will be fine." Jack said with a bright smile.

"Thank you young man." The old man said. "But, can't I come in for a moment and rest my tired old legs? I don't think I can make it the whole way if I don't rest first."  
Jack thought for a moment. He shouldn't let anyone in, on the other hand he shouldn't open the door for strangers either. But he couldn't be rude and send the old man away, that wasn't right. So he smiled and let the old man in.

"You are a nice young man. As a token of my appreciation I will give you this basket of apples." The old man told Jack and put the basket on the table.  
"Keep them, helping a lost person is just common sense. I wouldn't be able to sleep if I had just let you go around lost and exhausted in the forest." Jack said, he was afraid that the man might give Jack the only food he had just because he felt he had to since Jack helped him.

"I need to repay your kindness somehow. At least take one of my apples." The old man proposed and took an apple from the basket and reached it to Jack. Jack didn't want to be rude and accepted the apple.

"Taste it, its the best apples in the country." The man said, a little too pushy. But Jack didn't suspect anything. Babytooth on the other hand did suspect the old man. She flew over Jacks mouth just when he were going to take a bite and tried to push away the apple.

"Babytooth, what are you doing?" He asked and she started to pull in the old mans clothes as if she wanted him out of the house. "Stop that now." Jack almost shouted and caught Babytooth with his free hand. "If you won't behave then I can't let you stay inside." Jack warned her but she just squeaked angrily towards the old man.

Jack opened a window and let go of Babytooth outside, then fast closed the window before she got the chance to fly in again.  
"I'm sorry for that. If she doesn't feel like helping you to get home later, then we just have to wait for the others to come back. They won't be happy over a stranger in the house, but one or two will probably help you out of the forest." Jack ensured the old man.

"It's alright. Lets just rest and eat an apple while waiting." The old man said and took up an apple for himself. Jack had forgotten all about the apple he was still holding in his hand until the old man reminded him.

"Yeah, lets do that. If you don't mind telling me how you got out here, then I would love to hear it." Jack said before he took a bite on the apple. But right after he had swallowed it he started to fell weird.

He dropped the apple and fell to the floor, a bit of black sand fell out of the bitten part of the apple and slowly it started to move towards the old man. Jack tried to hold himself up but his arm could barely hold his weight. The man looked down on Jack that tried to breath on the floor. Babytooth sounded like she were screaming outside the window.

The old man started to change right in front of Jack. Change into someone Jack recognized well.

"Pi...tch" Jack said with great effort.  
"I wonder how you will die. Buried alive, or in a sickbed waiting for help. On the other hand, there's only two people that can cure you. One is me, and I don't think any of your friends would be able to force me to do it. The other one is under my control, locked up where no one can find him. Deep down in the castle. Too bad the only one that knows this is you. But it will be impossible for you to give this information to anyone else. You will die, knowing exactly what could save your life, but still not able to save yourself. You're no different from your mother, she looked at me with the exact same eyes when she got to know that I killed her husband and her." Pitch was sitting on one knee in front of the boy who couldn't move an inch anymore. He would pass out any moment, but he tried to hold onto reality and life.

"Farewell, Jack Frost." Was the last thing Jack heard Pitch say before darkness overtook him.

* * *

_Geeh, I have had a headache half the day, I hope it didn't affect my writing. Pitch really shouldn't tell people how they are going to be saved when others can be listening *hint hint* Pitch, you are a really bad villain sometimes xD But I love you anyways ^^ 3  
_


	17. Chapter 16: Planning

Babytooth dashed through the forest, she had to find the others and that fast. Luckily she had stayed long enough to hear what Pitch had told Jack. Someone could save Jack, someone that was imprisoned deep down in the castle. It was in moments like that she wished she could speak, because she had no idea how she would be able to tell the others about the information. Since she had no idea where they were she just had to search blindly until she found them.

"Babytooth." Pippa exclaimed as she spotted the little hummingbird. Everyone turned their heads surprised.  
"What are you doing here?" Cupcake asked, with a both angry and concerned expression. She never left Jack's side while she lived with them. And when she left she had never came to see them.  
"Did something happen?" Jamie asked right after Cupcake.

She started to fly around, trying to illustrate what had happened with her tiny hands. But no one could understand what she tried to say. So instead she started to point in the direction towards the house and pulled in Jamies clothes to show them that they had to hurry.

"Is Jack in danger?" Jamie asked the hummingbird. There were no other reasons to why Babytooth would act like she did and point towards the cabin. At least no reason Jamie could think about at the moment. To his horror Babytooth nodded. "We'll be there as fast as we can, take care of Jack until we get there." Jami told Babytooth.

They were really far into the forest, so it would take them some time to get to the cabin even if they hurried. But Babytooth could reach it in just five or ten minutes since she could fly so fast. As she returned to the cabin Pitch had already left and he hadn't even bothered closing the door. But she felt happy about that since she wouldn't have been able to get in if the door hadn't been open.

Jack was still lying on the floor, his breath's was so small so they weren't even visible. The only way to realize that he were still breathing would be if they checked really carefully. His pulse was also hard to feel, if they didn't check at the right places and listened good enough then they would think he were actually dead.

There wasn't much babytooth could do except being there. She couldn't lift him to a bed nor could she get a blanket for him. She was too small to do anything to help him. Babytooth sat down beside Jack's lifeless hand and she started to stroke it with her tiny little hand. A small tear fell from her eye, she felt so useless when she couldn't help her friend in any way. She couldn't even tell the others what had happened or where they should go to save Jack. But maybe she could show them somehow.

The others came back sooner than expected. The first one inside were Jamie, then came Claude, Pippa and Cupcake. Sophie that were shorter than the others came first a couple of minutes afterwards together with Caleb and Monty. Jamie, Claude and Pippa were sitting beside Jack's lifeless body. Pippa had started to cry, but once the others came she had forced her tears to stop. Cupcake were standing a bit away from the others, obviously trying to pretend she didn't care even though even she were about to start crying.

"What... Happened?" Monty were able to say after a minute or two. Jamie shook his head a bit. "I don't know." He said without taking his eyes away from Jack.

"I think he's... dead." Pippa said eventually, telling everyone what they all already had thought. That's when Babytooth flew up from her place beside Jack's hand. She shook her head and squeaked at them that he wasn't dead. If she only could tell them with words. If she only could speak.

"I'm sorry Babytooth, but he isn't breathing." Jamie told her, he tried hard to keep calm and not worry everyone by crying himself. Babytooth shook her head again and then tried to illustrate that Jack was breathing by pointing at him and then breathing loudly. Then she flew down to his throat and laid her hand where she thought the pulse should be on a human and tried to illustrate that they should look more carefully for it.

Some of them looked confused at Babytooth, but Monty sat down beside Jack and looked after a pulse. He couldn't find it at first though. "There is none, I'm sorry." He said. But Babytooth didn't give up, she flied to Monty's hand and tried to pull it back to Jack's throat. Even though he really didn't want to get more proof of how dead Jack were he still did it so that the little hummingbird might calm down.

At first he didn't feel anything again, but then, when he almost had given up, he suddenly was certain that he had felt something. He looked surprised at his own hand. Then he closed his eyes and started to listen carefully. Then he could hear it again. A really weak and slow pulse, but there was a pulse.

"He's alive." Monty almost screamed to everyone's surprise. Both because they all was so certain about Jack being dead and also because they had never heard Monty raise his voice for anything.

Everyone looked confused on each other, feelings of happiness washed over them, but at the same time they had no idea what was going on. In the end Jamie was the one that had to speak. "But how?" He asked as he looked at Babytooth.

Now there had been plenty of time for her to think about how to explain things for them, and as the question was asked she flew out. When no one came after her she flew in and signaled with her tiny hands for them to follow her. They all rose and walked out to the little hummingbird whom had started to draw things in the snow.

She drew a picture of a man in the snow, with an apple at his side. It wasn't the best picture, but the other got it pretty well.  
"Someone came here." Claude said, and for the first time in his life ha had actually had a serious tone in his voice.  
"Now when I think about it, didn't an apple lay on the floor in the house when we walked in?" Pippa asked. The others had been so focused on Jack that they hadn't been able to notice the apple at all. Pippa had seen it and her brain had registered its presence, but she had been too busy with Jack to notice anything wrong with an apple when the apple season had ended two month's earlier.

Babytooth pointed at the apple and fast drew someone that were about to eat the apple.  
"So Jack ate it, and collapsed?" Jamie asked and got a nod in return. Then she drew a crown above the head of the man with the apple. The others were confused for some seconds, but Jamie was certain right away what she meant.

"The king poisoned Jack." He said. "But how could Jack not recognize him?" Babytooth made a new drawing of a shorter man, whose back was bend and had to use a stick. "A disguise." Cupcake said. Her hands had turned into fists and her voice were shaking a bit because of her anger.

"What will happen to Jack if we can't cure him?" Pippa asked. The question wasn't really directed to anyone and she didn't expect an answer either. But Babytooth started to draw a skull to show that Jack would die. Then he wrote number three and pointed on it.

"So if we can't do anything to cure him then he will die. How much time? Three hours? Three days?" Jamie asked, when he said three hours she had shook her head, at three days she had nodded.

"So we have three days. We need to find a cure before then." Jamie mumbled mostly to himself. Babytooth started to point at Pitch before drawing a castle. "Is there a cure in the castle?" Claude asked, his happy mood had came back a little bit, even though he still were worried for Jack. Babytooth nodded happily since everyone understood her even though she couldn't talk. She immediately started to draw strokes under Pitch, making them understand that Pitch had the cure. Then she started to draw another person and a question mark beside that person, and after that a arrow towards the castle.

"So Pitch knows the cure, and another person inside the castle also knows the cure. But we don't know who that person is." Jamie concluded and got a nod from Babytooth. Then she drew prison bars over the unknown man. "And he is Pitch's prisoner." Jamie said and once again got a nod.

"Okay guys, we need to save Jack. This will become very dangerous so those who think they can't do it should probably stay here with Jack." Jamie told the others. At first everyone looked a bit uncertain. They loved Jack as if he were their brother, but if they got caught by Pitch then they would probably get killed.

"I'll go with you." Cupcake finally said. Jamie had thought she would be the last one to volunteer, not because she didn't like Jack but because she didn't want to admit it before everyone else had.  
"Me too." Caleb and Claude said at the same time.  
"And me." Pippa said right after.  
"And me." Monty also joined in.  
"Me too, me too." Sophie said with a bright smile.

"Monty, Sophie. You two should probably stay here and take care of Jack. If everyone goes then it will be easier to get caught. Monty, make sure Jack doesn't get worse while we're gone. Caleb, stay here you too and keep guard, we don't know if the king will come back here to do something more with Jack." He started. "Me, Claude, Pippa, Cupcake and Babytooth will try to sneak in and find that person who is imprisoned so that he can save Jack."

"What if he doesn't want to help Jack?" Cupcake asked.  
"We just have to hope he hates the king enough to do us that favor when we'll free him." Jamie told her.

* * *

_Question time:_

Guest asks: This is going to be a Jackrabbit fiction isn't it.  
Answer: ... HAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHHAHA! That almost gave me a heart attack xD I only ship Bunnymund with Toothiana :3 But she's dead so he will probably be forever alone in this fic ^^' Sorry Bunny!

Lillithdemon wrote: Bunny had better NOT die, you hear me?  
Answer: I don't promise anything x) But he miiiight be in the next chapter ~ No promises though.

Next chapter: Will the children be able to save the mysterious man locked up in Pitch's castle? Will they be able to find the antidote for Jack? Does Pitch just need a hug? Probably!  
All this might or might not be answered in the next chapter of Jack and the seven children! (Depending on how much the writer decides to spin out the story as she has done all the time, which has made people wait and wait and wait to know who the prince or princess will be.)  
Me: "I'M SORRY. I JUST DON'T KNOW HOW TO SHORTEN IT xD There's so much I want to have in it x3 


	18. Chapter 17: Sneak into the castle

It was almost midnight when Pippa, Claude, Cupcake, Jamie and Babytooth reached the castle. The moon was hidden behind the dark clouds. It felt like a bad sign for Jamie, but he didn't share that thought with the others since he didn't want to scare them.

"Babytooth, do you think you can fly in there and take a look? Just try to find some way to the prisons so we know where we should walk. If we all walks in and try to search after it we will surely get caught. You are so small and flies so fast so you can hide easily." Jamie looked at Babytooth with a comforting smile, just to tell her that she didn't need to do it if she were too scared. But she thought more about Jack's safety than her own, so she nodded and tried to look brave and fearsome.

"Be careful, and try not to be seen. Even if you are seen they will probably just take you for a animal that took shelter inside the castle because of the cold. If they start chasing you, just fly out as fast as you can." Jamie instructed her. She nodded and then flied off to the castle. The others sat down in the snow, they didn't like to wait but they didn't have much choice.

* * *

Babytooth tried to find someplace where she could fly in. An open window, door or maybe a small crack in the wall she could push herself through. While she flew around the enormous building she found a window that were slightly opened. She flew to the window and entered.

It was a kitchen, they had probably needed to ventilate the kitchen while they cooked and then forgot to close the window. They would probably regret that in the morning, it might work for a couple of hours, but if it stood open the whole night then the room would become ice cold. Luckily the window were on the first floor so now she knew where the others could get in. She might not be able to push up the window so the others could go in, but it was enough room for them to get in their hands and take off the thing that kept the window from going up completely or closing down because of a strong wind.

One of the two doors that led out from the kitchen were opened, so that's the way she had to take. She flew through the corridor almost as fast as when she had tried to find help for Jack in the forest. But she realized that she had to take it more slowly since she could fly into someone at the nest corner. If she was seen she might get chased out, and they didn't have any time to waste on starting over.

She was careful every time the corridor made a turn, first she listened after footsteps and then she looked around the corner to see so no one was there. Most people in the castle were sleeping so there weren't that many people to meet. The guards often just guarded outside and at some doors.

Babytooth looked in to every room, if the doors were closed she just looked in through the keyhole. She found many different rooms, but none that seemed to be prison rooms. After some time she became uncertain if there even were a prison in the castle. It was very unusual for a castle to have a prison.

After a long time of searching she sat down at a leaf of a plant. She just needed to rest for a minute or two, then she could continue. But she didn't know where she should search anymore.

Suddenly the floor started to shake a bit. Babytooth acted on reflex when she flew up and hid inside the plant. A bit of the floor first went down a bit and then slid in under the unmoved part of the floor. Pitch walked up the stairs from the dungeons. Babytooth wasn't certain what was down there, but since she hadn't seen any prisons anywhere else she would just guess that it was the prison.

She watched carefully as Pitch pushed on a stone in the wall, at that moment the floor closed itself. Pitch had been very careful when he used it, during the day he always sent a bit of his sand to see if there was anyone close that could notice when he came out of the dungeons. But during the night he didn't see any need to be careful about it since everyone were asleep. Even though most people would just get lost in the dungeons he still didn't want anyone to stumble upon Sanderson and set him free. But normal people shouldn't be able to do that anyways.

Babytooth watched as Pitch left the room and then she flew out of the plant. She started to count the stones up to the stone Pitch had pushed and then she counted how many stones from the side it were on. 14 up and 9 to the left. Better remember that or else they would have to search after it and waste more time.

She flew back to the others and smiled brightly to them, which made them understand that she had found what they searched for.

"Okay, Babytooth, you fly first to lead the way and check so no one comes in front of us. I walk right behind you. Cupcake, walk last. If someone surprise us from behind take care of them while we'll try to make a run for it to the prison. When you don't think you can hold them back any longer or it becomes too dangerous, just try to get out of there." Jamie said and Cupcake nodded. She were the only one that was really strong among them, and if someone had a chance to take down an enemy it would be her.

* * *

It was easy to get in, there was one guard that almost saw them but Claude had been able to jump in through the window just in time to not be noticed. Babytooth showed them the way through the corridor until they got to the room with the hidden passage.

Babytooth counted the stones, first from the left and then upwards. Then she pointed at the stone and showed them that they were supposed to push it. Pippa that was closest to Babytooth pushed the stone. The hidden door in the floor opened and they could see the stairs.

"Are you certain that that's where the prisoner are?" Jamie asked just to make sure. She wasn't certain but if he were somewhere in the castle then it should be down there. So she nodded since she didn't know how to explain why they still should go down there even though she shook her head. Jamie turned his head to Claude and said "Stay up here. Knock on the floor every ten minutes if the coast is clear. If the coast isn't clear then don't knock, try to hide instead. When we're back we will wait for a knocking before we walk up. If we can't find the mechanism that makes it open itself then we will give a knock back to give you a signal that you should open it." Jamie said and even though Claude wanted to go to he still agreed.

"But what if its completely soundproof?" Asked Pippa. Jamie hadn't thought about that. He fast changed his planned and said, "Once its closed, knock on it and then if we hear we will give a knock back. If its really soundproof and you don't get an answer knock then stay here and open it every thirty minutes if the coast is clear. If we're not back in three or four hours, then you have to get out without us. If people wake up and you're still here then we won't know what will happen to you."

After that they walked down and Claude closed the passage. He then knocked on the stone as hard as he could and waited for a reply knock. But none came. So instead he started to stamp as hard as he could on the floor. But there were still no sound to be heard.

* * *

They all waited for the knocking, but it didn't come. Jamie tried to listen extra hard and he thought he heard something, but no one else had heard it so he figured it was only his imagination.

"So which way should we go?" Pippa asked. There was three different ways already in the beginning of it. Jamie thought that it must be some kind of labyrinth, if they walked randomly there would be a big chance for them to get lost and not be able to find the prisoner for hours or days. Or worse, they could die in there. He didn't get to think about it for long before he heard something.

"Did you hear that?" Jamie asked the others. Pippa, Cupcake and Babytooth shook their heads at the exact same time, but just then the sound came back and the others could hear it too. "It sounds like someone's shouting." Jamie said.

Bunnymund felt weak. He had been without food for ten months. He hadn't believed for one second that he would survive over half a year, but it seemed like his stamina was better than he had thought. But without any food he would soon not be able to take it anymore. He thought about giving up, to just end his misery right away. There was no way he would be able to get out of there any longer, now when he barely had any energy to stand up.

Something pulled Bunny out of his depressing thoughts. A sound. The passage had opened. Bunny hoped that Pitch would leave him alone. Why did he even go down there again when he had been there less than an hour earlier? Bunny didn't care that much about that though. But something didn't seem right.

He listened after the footsteps but they had stopped just as the door had been closed. Why? Then he heard a voice. He couldn't make out what the voice said because whoever it was talked to silently and he or she were too far away. But he knew that it weren't Pitch. He had no idea who it was, but that might be his chance to get out of there.

"Who's there?" At first he didn't scream as loudly as he wanted to. He barely used his voice anymore and he were exhausted so it didn't come out that well. "Who are you?" He then screamed louder.

He heard some mumbling before someone answered him. "Someone's there? Are you imprisoned here? Where are you?" A boys voice. They probably didn't hear him completely even when he shouted the second time, they didn't have his great hearing after all. Probably humans.

"If you can hear me, then keep talking until our friend gets to you. She will try to follow your voice. Then she'll come back and show us the way." The same boy voice shouted again. Jamie had realized that they may not be able to hear the imprisoned guys words, but they might be able to follow his voice. Babytooth was fast and had a great memory, so even if she came to a dead end she wouldn't forget which way she came from and could just start over.

Bunnymund wasn't certain if it would work, but this was his chance to get free. He had to try. "I am E. Aster Bunnymund." He started, shouting the words slowly since he didn't know what he should say. It didn't really matter since they just needed him to keep saying something so they could find him. "There was once a freakin' rude boy that called me a kangaroo, but I'm a bunny mate." He said at some point.

After six minutes of screaming his name, colors and some funny events like meeting Jack, Babytooth finally arrived. And that was in the last moment. Bunny barely had any voice left to scream with. "You." Bunnymund exclaimed but it only became a whisper. It was the same hummingbird that he and Jack had seen. She recognized him too.

She put up a finger to signal to him that he had to wait for a bit and then she flew off to get the others. It only took them a couple of minutes to walk to Bunnymunds cell since they knew the way.

The kids first stopped and stared at the big Pooka, they had never seen one before.  
"Close your mouth mate, you don't want flies to fly in do ya?" Bunny said, almost whispering the words, but still spoke loud enough for them to hear. Jamie was probably the one that had his jaw drop down the most. He and the others pulled themselves together.

"Are you the one that are able to cure a poison that the king uses?" Jamie asked. He had no idea what kind of poison it was, so he couldn't be more specific than that.  
"Sorry mate, don't know anythin' about any poison." Bunny told them.  
"Do you know if there are more people in here?" Jamie continued asking. There had to be someone more.  
"Not what I know of. Though that psycho king do often talk to himself in some part of the dungeons. I have heard him walk there so many times so I might be able to show you the way by remembering his footsteps. That is if you can find some way to get me out of here." Bunnymund told them.

* * *

_Wow, I got four reviews yesterday :D So much love 3  
__Anyway, I wrote four chapters yesterday (chapter 16,17,18 & 19) So I will try to at least write one chapter a day and post one chapter every day :3 that way I have a stocking if I miss writing one day x3  
Chapter 18 & 19 is also in the castle/dungeon. After that they will get out. But will they all survive? Hehhehe! _


	19. Chapter 18: Key search

"We need to find the keys." Jamie said. There was no way they would be able to break into the cell.

"Good luck with that mate. Last time I saw them were when I was put in here. Pitch had them at that time. I doubt that they are down here. Never heard the sound of keys after that." Bunny told them. It didn't seem like things would go their way.

"Cupcake and I will stay down here to take a look. Pippa, you and Babytooth goes upstairs as fast as Claude opens the passage. Tell him to stay where he are while you and Babytooth tries to find the keys upstairs. Be careful, and if it seems too risky then come back and get us instead." Jamie told everyone after some thinking about it. "And whatever you do, do not Sneeze." He warned her just when she had started to walk back.

She nodded, but wasn't certain how well that would go. Sometimes she could sneeze for hours and sometimes she didn't sneeze at all for days. For the most she sneezed at least a couple of times a day. But nothing had happened for the last couple of days, so she might be alright.

It took some time before Claude opened the passage, he was surprised to see someone come up right away and even more surprised when only Pippa and Babytooth showed up. He looked worried at Pippa, but before he could ask she started to speak.

"We need to find a key. Babytooth and I will search for it, Jamie told you to stay here." Pippa told him and he nodded.

Babytooth flew first and checked behind every corner so that no one would be there. "Where do you think he could have hidden the key?" She whispered to the small hummingbird-like creature. Babytooth first shrugged since she had no idea, but then she stopped in her thoughts and suddenly she were all over the place. First she pulled in Pippa's shirt and then she pushed her back and then she were in front of her, trying to show her that she should go faster. Pippa didn't understand at all what was going on, but she followed the little hummingbird.

Not even Babytooth knew exactly where they were going, but she knew what they were looking after. The keys might be in the kings room. If he hid the entrance to the dungeons then he didn't want people to find it, and then there would be no one to give the keys too except himself. Find Pitch's room, find his keys. Hopefully.

It took them a long time to find the right room. They almost ran into a guard at one point, but Babytooth noticed him before he noticed her and flew back and showed Pippa to a hiding spot until the guard was gone.

No door in the castle seemed to be locked, so Pippa had opened them carefully after checking through the keyhole after movements in the rooms. Then Babytooth had silently walked in, since her wings would make a bit too much noise if someone were sleeping in there. Then she either came out or made a gesture to Pippa to come in, depending on what was needed.

After a long times searching they finally found Pitch's room. Pippa cursed in her head when the king were lying in his bed, sleeping. Well, at least he were sleeping and not awake. She still didn't know what the little hummingbird was thinking, so she simply followed Babytooth's lead and hoped she knew what she were doing.

Pippa had to pick up Babytooth and carry her since she couldn't fly at the moment. They didn't know how easily woken the king were. She pointed around in the room on places she thought the key could be in and Pippa searched as quietly as she could. She tried not to think about that the brutal and heartless king were sleeping just next to the cabinet she were searching through.

'Nothing in the cabinet' She thought to herself. As she thought about more places to look at, Babytooth started to pull in her finger to get her attention. She looked at Babytooth and the little hummingbird pointed at a long black coat. She had noticed that something heavy were in one of the pockets. Pippa swallowed, the coat hanged over the bed, together with some other clothing.

She tiptoed towards the bed and took her hand as silently as she could, down into the pocket. She definitely felt some keys down there. But they would probably make a lot of sounds while she would try to take them up. Pippa put Babytooth on her shoulder and took her free hand down into the pocket so that she could hold the keys with both her hands. She lifted up the keys as carefully as she could. When they did a small noise both she and Babytooth froze in fear. They didn't even dare to breath for half a minute. That's when they realized that Pitch hadn't woken up from the sound.

She didn't dare to put them down into her own pocket so she simply held them between her hands so they wouldn't be able to move around. Then she sneaked out with Babytooth on her shoulder. Just as she had closed the door though, she sneezed. Both froze once again and listened. Sounds came from within the room on the other side of the door. Pippa fast ran as silently as possible to a statue in the corridor and stood behind it. She just hoped it was dark enough so that Pitch wouldn't notice her even if some part my stick out behind the statue.

Just a second after she had placed herself behind the statue, the door to Pitch's room opened. She was happy that she hadn't tried to run to the end of the corridor and around the corner, she might not have been able to make it.

He looked around in the corridor. Pippa could hear some grumpy mumbling from him. Either he thought that someone had just passed by to get to the kitchen or something like that and happened to sneeze on the way, or he thought that he had dreamed and just happened to wake up because of it.

Pitch went back in after twenty seconds, and Pippa signaled to Babytooth to keep being silent. They went back to Claude who still hadn't met any trouble. Claude got to stay where he were while Babytooth and Pippa went down the secret passage to meet the others. Babytooth had to show the way since Pippa had completely forgotten it.

* * *

_I wanted this chapter to feel eerie and scary, but I really don't think I were able to get those feeling into this chapter that well ^^' Geh!  
Oh well, hope you enjoyed it anyways. :3 I remembered while I were writing chapter 17 that they had to get Bunny out some way, before that I had never thought about that problem xD And that's why I had to make this chapter where someone searched for the key x3 Because it would have been a bit unrealistic if they were able to break into Bunny's cell but he hadn't been able to break out xD hahah_


	20. Chapter 19: If you search, you'll find

Jamie and Cupcake had searched for some place where the keys could be in the dungeon. But they weren't able to find anything. They hadn't searched everywhere though, mostly since they didn't want to get lost in there and they didn't have Babytooth with them whom could remember the way back much better, nor did they have anything to mark where they had been. So they ended up not walking too far away from the cell or from the place where they had started.

They had been sitting in front of Bunnymund's cell for at least ten minutes before Pippa and Babytooth showed up. In that time Jamie and Cupcake had gotten to know that the Pooka had been starved for over ten months. Jamie remembered that he had a piece of bread in his pocket and gave it to Bunny. Bunny whom wasn't used to being treated so nicely by people became a bit shy and tried to hide it by acting tough. But Jamie understood that it was his way of thanking them. After all, he had lived with Cupcake for years now, and she was exactly the same when she became shy.

He also told them about the boy that Pitch had wanted, and both Jamie and Cupcake realized that Bunny had been imprisoned because he had saved Jack. The same person they were trying to save. In return Jamie told Bunny about what had happened to Jack and that they needed to find that other person that were locked up somewhere in the dungeon, so that he or she could help them save Jack.

Just when he had finished telling about what had happened, Pippa and Babytooth showed up.  
"Did you find something?" Jamie asked a bit worried. Pippa held up the keys with a proud grin on her face. But that fast disappeared when she suddenly realized that they couldn't know that any of the keys she were holding were the right key.

"I guess we have to test and see if any of these fit into the lock." She said and handed them to Jamie, whom turned to the lock and started to test them out. There were five keys on the rusty key ring Two very rusty keys and three that looked rather new. He decided to test the keys that weren't rusty first, even though he was certain that it weren't any of them. But he also thought that because he didn't think it could be any of the newer keys, it could as well be that fate decided that it were one of them.

The first key didn't fit. Pippa held her breath, and so did Cupcake. Bunny didn't show any worry, but he was probably freaking out on the inside. Jamie took the next key and put it into the lock. It didn't fit either. Then the third one. He shook his head in disappointment. Only two keys left.

Even Jamie were holding his breath in nervousness at that point. The fourth one, he tried hard to turn it in the lock, but it didn't budge one inch.

"Last one." He said before putting it in. He was afraid to turn the key, what if it wouldn't work? What if they had to search again? If they stayed too long it would become morning and their chance to escape would disappear. He started to turn it, it probably went very fast since Bunny didn't tell him to just do it. But it felt to him like an eternity. Maybe it actually took a lot of time, but Bunny were too nervous to say anything.

The lock clicked. It had been the right key.

First there were a long silence. Then everyone breathed out in relief. And then they started to jump up and down in happiness and relief. When Bunny came out from his cell he started to hug Pippa for bringing the keys. Then he hugged Jamie and Cupcake, whom tried to pull away at first but then gave in. Even Babytooth got a small hug, but that was first when he had calmed himself since he didn't want to crush the little thing. Ten months in imprisonment, and now he had been saved, by a bunch of kids. That was a story that would be hard to believe.

"Maybe we should take the celebration after we have gotten out of here. But first there was someone we were going to search for, right?" Bunny said when he had calmed himself enough to think clearly again.

"He's right guys, we have to hurry or else Claude will worry." Jamie said and they started moving back to the starting point of the dungeon, since Bunny wouldn't be able to know the way if he didn't start from where he hack heard Pitch start.

"First he take nine steps forward, then he slows one step down which means he turns. Left takes a bit longer to turn for him than right, so the first turn is right. Then there is fourteen steps before a left turn." Bunny talked all the way while they walked through the dungeon, not because the rest needed to hear it, but because he had to remind himself. Ten months without any other sounds than his own voice, footsteps and Pitch's voice. The patterns were going to stay in his brain for a long time.

After some time they came to a big room, in the middle were some kind of pool with something dark in it. The room were lit up with torches. Bunny had stopped just in front of the pool. "This is where he stopped. He never walked further than this." He told the others while looking down on the dark in front of his feet. The feeling he got from it were the same as the time he had been attacked in the forest and taken to Pitch.

"Is that black stuff moving?" Cupcake asked the others. Jamie nodded. The black sand were moving around in the pool as if it were alive. Jamie felt a bit curious about it and wanted to touch it, but at the same time he thought about that it might not be a good idea, since they didn't know what that thing in the pool was.

"What was that?" Jamie suddenly exclaimed.  
"What?" Bunny asked.  
"Something shined, something is under the sand." He said and started to reach down to try and fish the thing he had seen up from the pool. But Bunnymund stopped him.

"Let me do that mate. Longer arms, longer legs. And if that black stuff is dangerous, then its better if I take care of it." Bunnymund told the boy and started to reach for whatever could be in the pool. To his surprise he weren't attacked. Well, Pitch had only told his sand to not let Sanderson out from the mirror. Since he hadn't thought he would get intruders down there he never really told them to kill anyone that got close.

After some searching after a solid object in the pool, Bunnymund finally felt the mirror. He brought it up from the pool and put it on the floor.

"A mirror." Jamie mumbled, he didn't know what to expect was hidden in the pool. But he thought it would have some great importance, and not be an ordinary mirror. "Well, there doesn't seem to be anyone here, so we should keep searching fo.." Suddenly Jamie was interrupted by Bunnymund.  
"Wait mate, look at this." He said and Cupcake, Jamie, Pippa and Babytooth came closer to see whatever it was he had to show them.

"Wow." The words didn't get out even though Jamie thought it loudly and formed his mouth after the words. Suddenly a golden man had appeared in the mirror, he reminded Jamie a bit about beach sand. "Who are you?" Asked Pippa, the amazement in her voice could be heard clearly.

The man didn't talk, instead he disappeared from view and words was written with the sand, 'Sanderson'. Then he returned to view when he was certain everyone had been able to read it. "How did you end up in the mirror?" Cupcake asked Sanderson. A form they all recognized showed up in the mirror, Pitch.

"Do you know how to save our friend? Pitch poisoned him and he will die in two and a half day if he doesn't get an antidote." Jamie said as fast as he had gotten over the amazing fact that he were talking with a mirror. Sanderson thought for a moment before he nodded his head. He wasn't completely certain if he could, but if Pitch had used the powers he had taught him then he should be able to reverse the effect of the poison.

Jamie became relieved and breathed out. Then Sanderson started to use his sand again to talk to them. He showed them the castle and them running out of it with the mirror. Then how they smashed the mirror and he would be able to get out. "Why can't we smash it in here so you can walk out by yourself?" Cupcake asked in a very rude manner.

Sanderson then showed them hos the mirror was smashed and how the sand would try to pull him down into the pool again if he were too close to it when he were free. "So the further away the better?" Bunnymund asked Sanderson, and he nodded.

"We'll take the mirror to the cabin and smash it once we are there. Just to be on the safe side." Jamie told everyone and they agreed.

* * *

_Now they have the mirror and can finally help Jack x3 And I have no idea how I am going to continue the story xD hahahha I know how it will end but not how they will get to the end xD Better start writing on chapter 20 and figure out how this will continue x3 Am I using too many x3 and xD smileys? ... probably!_

Questions:  
Guest: If bunny aren't the prince Jack will end up with, then who is? (I rephrased the question a bit)  
Answer: If Jack gets a boyfriend/girlfriend, then I would crush the hearts of thousands of fangirls out there :3 Can I really do that? Don't worry, the ending is not far away, you will know soon who he will end up with x) If he ends up with someone that is :9


	21. Chapter 20: Run

The kids, Babytooth and Bunnymund hurried through the dungeon. Bunnymund carried the mirror, which wasn't as light as it looked. He was tired after all those month's in imprisonment, but he had still decided to take the last energy he had to help the kids. After all, they save his life. If they were able to get out of the castle without being caught, then he owned the kids more than he ever could repay.

It was weird how he suddenly felt that he needed to return the favor, he would never have thought that way before. It wasn't the first time he thought or did something out of character. Saving that kid all those month's ago had also been unexpected, and he still didn't understand why he felt the need to help that guy. Or maybe he understood it deep down, but he himself was so used to being in a special way so he couldn't accept that he was changing. But it didn't matter. All that mattered at the moment was to get out of there, free the guy trapped inside the mirror and save a young mans life.

As they arrived at the secret passage they had to wait for Claude to open it. No one had been able to keep track of time down there, but they were certain that he hadn't opened it since Pippa came back with the keys. It hadn't taken them that much time to find the mirror and then get back to the passage.

But the time passed and the passage didn't open. After a while they were all certain that they had been sitting in front of the passage for at least half an hour, if not more. "Maybe people started to wake up so he had to leave." Pippa said, but hoped that it weren't like that. In that case they might have to wait until the next night to escape, but how would they know when it was night from down there? And if Pitch walked down into the dungeon and noticed that both his prisoners were gone, then he would start searching for them. What if he were able to find them? What would he do with them?

They waited impatiently. No one really knew what to talk about while waiting for something to happen. Bunnymund weren't really one to talk with strangers about himself, and he thought there weren't much to tell anyhow. Sanderson couldn't really speak, and no one was in the mood for charades. Jamie could come up with a lot of things to talk about with his friends, but no topic the Pooka nor the mirror man would be able to follow completely. Babytooth tried to lit up the mood a couple of times, but her squeaks mostly made it worse since no one understood what she wanted to say. Pippa and Cupcake didn't really try to come up with a subject, they seemed to be completely absorbed in their own thoughts.

Then, finally, the passage opened. Claude peeked down from the opening in the floor and started to speak as fast as he saw that the others were there. "Hurry up, some people have walked by here a lot the last hour. They might come back any minute." He warned them and everyone hurried as much as their bodies allowed them.

Babytooth was so used to being first this night so no one had to tell her to check around every corner in case people were coming. Even if they saw her they might take her for a lost animal, and at the worst they might try to chase her out. If they saw the others they would immediately think 'intruders' and call for the guards.

They sneaked towards the kitchen and luckily no one had been in there yet. The window was still open and the room had become ice cold. Babytooth flied out of the open window and looked around before turning to the others and gave an okay sign with her fingers.

"You should go first since you have the mirror. You and Babytooth are faster than us, so get to the cabin first and help Jack. We'll be there as fast as possible." Jamie told Bunnymund. In the dungeon when they were running back towards the passage Bunnymund had started to run much faster than the others but then slowed down when he noticed that the Jamie, Pippa and Cupcake couldn't keep up. That was probably not even full speed for him, if he were as much bunny as he seemed then he could probably outrun any human.

Bunnymund seemed to be about to protest, but he stopped himself and simply nodded. He didn't want to leave the kids behind in case something happened. But at the same time he knew how important it was for them to get the mirror to the cabin as fast as possible so Jack could be saved.

He made sure to have a tight grip on the mirror before he dashed out of the window and started to run. Babytooth first got a little startled by the speed Bunnymund were able to run in, but she recovered from the shock in no time and caught up with him. Even though Bunny were exhausted still, and knew that he would collapse if he tried to relax for a single second, he still gave it his all. They trusted him, so he wouldn't let them down.

* * *

Caleb, Sophie and Monty waited in the Cabin. Not even Caleb had been able to fall asleep while worrying for the others. He forced himself to stay awake no matter what, he had to make sure no one would get to Jack.

Sophie had tried to make it more comfortable for Jack by laying a blanket over him and a pillow under his head. They wanted to take him upstairs to the beds but they had been worried about dropping him so they tried to make the floor as comfortable as possible. On the other hand, Jack had many times fallen asleep on the settle, or on the window frame. None of those were very comfortable but he still didn't seem to be bothered by it.

Monty sat beside Jack, he constantly checked his pulse and breathing. Sometimes he panicked because he couldn't hear any of them, but once he calmed down and tried again he often were able to find them. He wondered if they would have three days or if the poison could kill Jack at any moment. But if the others weren't back before the night was over, then they could assume that they were dead. Either frozen to death while trying to find a way into the castle or caught by the guards and put into prison, or maybe even executed.

"Someones coming." Caleb suddenly said as he saw a movement from outside. But before anyone had been able to do anything, the door was already smashed opened and a Pooka dropped down exhausted on the floor.

Three pair of eyes starred at the fluffy thing on the floor that tried to catch its breath. They had no idea what was going on and no idea how to react before Babytooth started to try to get their attention. They had completely missed that she had flied in right after the big bunny.

"Babytooth. Wh.. Wh.. Where's the others? And what... Who's that?" Monty asked, still a bit shaken. She started to squeak and fly around much more energetic than usual. She still had some adrenaline left in her tiny body after the rush through the forest. "C...Calm down. I don't understand." Monty said and Babytooth sighed as if it should be crystal clear what it was she tried to say.

Luckily Bunnymund started to stand up and were ready to talk. "Hey mate." The Pooka said as he rose to his full length, making Monty feel even smaller than he was. But the cabin weren't big, and it weren't built for someone as tall as Bunny. The Pooka hit the ceiling, which made Sophie giggle. "Yeah yeah yeah, real funny." Bunny commented a bit irritated. "You're Jamies friends right? He and the other two are on their way. In the meantime we will get some life into your friend." He explained and picked up the mirror. Bunny looked towards Jack, his skin seemed even whiter than the last time he had seen him. On the other hand, he had been locked up in a dark place for a long time, everything seemed whiter.

Bunny told the others what had happened in the castle, at least the parts he knew since he hadn't been there when they got the key nor when the kids broke into the castle. After explaining everything he looked at the man in the mirror. The black sand that had been holding him in the mirror when they got it was almost completely gone. So the black sand could only stay in the mirror as long as it were in that chamber in the dungeon. Or maybe it lost its power because Pitch were too far away from it.

"And you're sure that you will be freed once we have crushed the mirror?" Bunnymund asked just to be on the safe side. The golden man shrugged and gave an almost apologetic smile. "What do you mean you don't know?" He almost screamed at the chubby little man in the mirror.

It was Sandersons first, and hopefully last time to be stuck in a mirror, so he had no idea how to get out. But he hoped that smashing it would do the trick. It was either that or get Pitch to get him out, and that would probably not happen. He gave Bunny a smile and gave a nod that probably meant 'its fine, go ahead, just do it'.

"If something happens to you, then its not my fault." Bunny told Sanderson and the golden man nodded. This was his mess, he knew that, everything that had happened to him so far and probably would happen in the near future was his fault and responsibility. He wouldn't escape his responsibility just because he was scared that he could get hurt.

"Do you guys have something her to hit it with?" Bunny asked Monty whom gave Sophie a small nod. She then ran towards the fireplace and got the fire hook. She gave it to Bunny and he gave a gesture to everyone to step back. Then he rose the fire hook as much as he could in the small cabin and smashed it against the mirror once, twice and even a third time.

Some pieces had went flying far in the room, but most laid shattered in the mirror frame. At first they thought it hadn't worked. They couldn't even see the golden man at first. They waited, and waited. He might be Jack's only chance of survival, he couldn't die.

Then, just when the Pooka had sighed and turned around, away from the mirror, something happened. From the corner of his eye the Pooka noticed a golden light. He turned back and saw golden sand come out from under the shattered glass pieces and soon they formed a smiling chubby little man.

* * *

_I thought I would get a writers block on chapter 20, but no I didn't o.O How can I not have gotten any writers blocks for 20 chapters? xD Okay maybe I shouldn't invite bad luck xD ahah  
By the way, I have made a fanart to this fanfic :D which is my own fanfic... is that really fanart? On the other hand, this fanfic is written by my hands. My brain has nothing to do with this story. My hands are writing and my brain are reading and says "Wow, this fanfic is sooo cool :D Who is the author?" xD_

Here you can find the fanart (If you can call it that): .com  
It's named Rise of the guardians in a snow white tale. _Take a look if you feel like it (I'm no Picasso, so its nothing amazing) If you don't feel like it then wait patiently or impatiently on the next chapter that might come tomorrow or next week depending on how awesome I am xD _


	22. Chapter 21: Breath

"It worked" Bunnymund whispered so quietly it was almost impossible to hear. Sanderson smiled at the success and started to clap his hands while doing a cheerful little dance, which was quite unusual for the little man that often sat quietly and read his books. But after being locked up in a mirror for so many years, it wasn't that surprising that he felt like moving around more than usual.

It took a minute or two before Monty's smile disappeared, and he once again became worried for his friend that still were lying lifeless on the floor. Bunnymund noticed the boys worried expression and remembered that the danger weren't over yet. "I'm glad we were able to get you out mate, so can you try to help him now?" Bunnymund asked the golden man and gave a glance towards Jack.

Sanderson should have realized earlier that it was North's son they had been talking about. Who else would need to be saved from Pitch's poison? But he hadn't realized it before the moment he saw the boy lying on the floor. Last time he had seen Jack had been when Nicholas and Toothiana still lived, he had just been a baby at the time.

He sat down beside the boy on the floor and gently lifted Jack's hand from the floor. "Can you help him?" Caleb asked the golden man, but didn't get an answer. Sanderson were already in deep concentration and didn't even know that someone had talked to him. He weren't certain if he could save Jack's life, but he would try.

The golden sand that surrounded Sanderson slowly floated over to Jack and covered him like a blanket. The black sand that were poisoning Jack inside his body were slowly pulled out by the golden sand, even though the others couldn't see that process. Sanderson knew that he couldn't loose concentration for a single second since that could make the dark sand get loose from the golden sand, and in worse case scenario that could lead to Jack's inside getting torn apart by the dark sand. But it could also mean that it simply went back to poisoning Jack's body in a bit faster speed and next time it might be harder for Sanderson to get a grip on the dark sand. Both reasons were good enough for him to not loose concentration. Nothing was allowed to disturb him.

He felt the sand moving up in the boys body, and it fought a lot against the golden chains that tried to pull it out. But eventually the sand started to flow out of Jack's mouth, black sand with some stripes of gold that were holding it tightly.

The teen started to cough and tried to catch his breath when the last sand had left his body, it felt like someone had rubbed the inside of his throat with sandpaper. He sat up in panic while Sophie were running to get him a glass of water. Bunnymund held the boys shoulder so he wouldn't try to stand up just yet. Jack had already stopped coughing when Sophie came with the water, but it was still much appreciated since his throat was sore after the sand leaving his body.

"Thanks Sophie." Jack said after he had emptied the glass. Then he noticed the furry hand that were still on his shoulder. He looked up at the Pooka that seemed a bit out of place in the small cabin. Then he noticed the golden man sitting beside him. He hadn't thought that he would ever meet Bunny again and he had no idea who the golden man were. "Long time no seen kangaroo." Jack said with a smug grin. Then he turned to the golden man and started to speak before Bunnymund would be able to say anything about being called kangaroo. "Who are you?"

"Sandman." Sophie said with a small laugh in her voice. Sanderson smiled at her comment, many kids had called him that, which wasn't surprising since he were covered with sand. Maybe he had even become sand himself.

Sanderson wrote his name with the sand, but then he let some letters drop and put an y on the end making it 'Sandy'.

"You want us to call you Sandy?" Jack asked just to make sure he had understood correctly, and the man nodded. Then he made a picture of himself with two familiar figures. At least they were familiar to Jack. It was Toothiana and Nicholas.  
"You knew my mother and father?" It wasn't meant to sound as a question, but somehow it came out that way anyway. The golden man nodded.

Bunny helped Jack up from the floor and they went to the table so they could sit down while talking. Monty first told Jack what had happened the other day when Babytooth had search after them in the forest to tell them that something had happened at the cabin. As he came to the part when Jamie and the others had left the cabin, Bunnymund took over and told everything that had happened from when they had found him. Even Sanderson explained a bit about how Pitch had caught him up in a mirror and used him. He weren't able to make them understand everything he tried to say, but they got the most of it.

When they had finished talking it was already dawn. Everyone's worry were like a thick cloud in the room. "Something must have happened. They should have been back long ago." Jack pointed out. Sure, it took time to walk all the way to the cabin from the castle, but Jamie and the others had been away for too long.

Sophie had fallen asleep while sitting in Bunnymunds lap, so everyone tried to be as silent as possible while discussing the matter.

"We can't be certain of that." Monty objected "Maybe they took shelter somewhere for the night." He proposed even though it didn't seem likely. Sanderson made an exclamation mark and then showed him flying over the forest.

"No." Jack protested immediately. "What if Pitch sees you and locks you up somewhere again?"  
"Then I'll go check." Bunnymund said, knowing exactly were the teen were heading with the conversation. He couldn't let the teen get his way though.

"Didn't you say you were locked up in that cell for month's without food? You barely have any energy as it is. I should go have a look." Jack said.  
"He is after you, Jack. If you go and he finds you..." Monty protested this time but got interrupted.  
"I fly fast and I'll be extra careful. You guys have already saved me, if Jamie are in danger because of me then its my turn to save him." Jack said before Babytooth flied up in his face. She wasn't amused by what Jack tried to do. "Calm down Babytooth."

"She is right though." Bunnymund said. "We just saved your ass and now you're going to get into trouble again?"

"He's right Jack. And we don't even know if they are in trouble, we should just try to get some sleep for now. If they're not back when we wakes up then we can talk about what to do." Monty proposed. Bunnymund and Sandy nodded.

No one of them thought that it would be easy to sleep after what had happened during the night, but after just some minutes everyone, except for Jack and Sandy, were asleep. None of the beds were big enough for the Pooka so he simply slept on the floor. But he didn't really notice any discomfort since he had slept in a far worse cell the last month's. Sophie had held such a hard grip on Bunny when he had tried to put her into bed so in the end he had just let her lie on his stomach. Babytooth had fallen asleep on Jack's chest and Monty and Caleb had fallen asleep in the same bed somehow.

Sandy were the only one that weren't in the bedroom, Jack guessed that he had fallen asleep downstairs instead, mostly since he himself usually did that. Jack didn't have any intentions of falling asleep though, after all, he had been asleep since the day before, even though that was because of Pitch's poison.

He gently move Babytooth from his chest to the bed before flying out of the room. He didn't dare to walk since he were afraid for someone waking up. Especially Bunny since he would stop Jack immediately.

As he came down he noticed Sandy, whom weren't asleep at all. Sandy were reading a book and didn't seem to notice Jack, so the teen took the opportunity to gently fly down to the door and open it. But just as the door opened, it immediately closed again. Some golden sand had closed it.

Jack turned around to look at Sandy who was floating just behind Jack. It startled him a bit but he didn't show it. "I need to make sure he's okay." Jack whispered so he wouldn't wake anyone. Even though Sandy had already decided to not let Jack go anywhere, he couldn't say no when he saw the eyes that looked at him. Something in his eyes reminded Sandy of Nicholas. The man that never would take no for an answer.

Sandy gave a small nod and then made a picture of him following Jack. "But you could get hurt." Jack protested, but soon he understood that the little man wouldn't let him go anywhere alone. "Fine. You can come."

* * *

_Sorry for my absence this week people, I have tried to teach myself to get up six in the morning and my body haven't liked that change so I have been a zombie the whole week xD I guess sitting at the computer at 23:30 in the evening when I'm supposed to get up six in the morning tomorrow is kind of bad... Oh well._

Oh Noooo, where can Jamie, Cupcake, Claude and Pippa be? ... Pff, as if you don't know the answer to that. xD I didn't realize before now that I am kind of stealing from the movie right now (I have done that all the time but still..) Jack and Sandy going off while everyone else is sleeping. Seems familiar? xD hahahha Don't worry, Sandy won't die. I think... I haven't planned his death, but I have changed this story so many times already so he might die. Anyway, there might be three more chapters before it ends. So its not much left of it :3 Thanks for sticking around for so long guys ^^ 3 


	23. Chapter 22: Win or loose

Jack flew through the forest with the golden sandman just a bit behind him. The trees were growing so close to each other so Jack almost flew into them when he tried to speed up. The teenager felt like flying over the trees so they could go forward a bit faster, but at the same time he knew that they had to keep a low profile so they wouldn't be discovered. After all, they were just going to make sure the kids were okay.

Sanderson let some of his sand go off on its own to search the forest after the kids, in case they missed them. But no human could be found in the forest.

Soon they had arrived at the end of the forest and could clearly see the castle not too far away. The sandman patted Jack on the shoulder to get his attention and then showed a picture of the town with his sand. If they had been able to get away from there then they could be in town.

"But what if they are in danger in there? Lets just take a fast look and then go to town if they don't seem to be here. I know this castle like my own pocket, I know every place there is to hide in. No one will discover me." Jack protested. If Pitch had his friends then he needed to help them immediately. If they started to search in town then who knew what could happen to those kids in the meantime.

Just as Jack were going to lift from the ground he felt Sandersons hand on his arm. He turned back to look at the golden man whom shook his head slowly, showing Jack that he wouldn't allow the teenager to leave. "But I have to." Jack complained. Sanderson didn't release him. Instead he took up his free hand and let some golden sand detach from his body and move towards the castle. Then he made a motion with his hand, telling the white haired boy to sit down and wait patiently.

Jack wasn't happy with that, but he let the little man have his way this time. He sat down behind a big tree that would hide him from other peoples eyes. That golden sand would have a better chance to hide than a white haired human sized teenager, but Jack still felt like he had to go in and search.

It felt like they waited for ages, Jack asked sometimes now and then if the sand had found anything but the small man only shook his head. After maybe half an hour it seemed like something finally happened. Jack looked at the sandman as he seemed to have gotten very confused over something.

"Did something happen?" Jack asked and the golden man looked up at him, first he looked concerned and it seemed like he were going to show a picture of what had happened any moment. But then his expression changed as his eyes left Jack's and went to something right behind him. Was that fear in the small mans eyes? Or anger? A bit of both maybe.

Jack turned his head and was fast up on his feet. "Pitch." Jack breathed.

"Welcome home Jack." The tall dark man said with a grin. In his hand were the small amount of golden sand that Sanderson had let go into the castle. It slowly were consumed by the black sand. "It seems that you are searching for something."

"Where are they?" Jack asked as he held up his staff in attacking position. Sanderson walked up to the teenagers right side, preparing for a fight if it would come.

"Who might you be speaking of I wonder." Pitch said still smiling "Now when I think about it, there were some intruders here during the night. Might those be the people you are searching for? For a prince to be around thieves, I'm disappointed in you Jack. What would your mother think if she saw you now?"

"Shut up!" Jack shouted. "Where are they?" He didn't know what Pitch was trying to do. But he wouldn't allow that man to use his mothers name to make him feel bad. Even so, his heart ached at the thought of his mother, what would she think of him now?

"They are intruders and thieves. At the moment they are awaiting their execution, and so are you." Pitch spoke cruely, his voice were like ice. How could one man be so cold hearted? As Jack's eyes got big with shock when he heard the word execution. He couldn't let Jamie and the others die because of him. There were no thoughts about his own safety, he only wanted to protect the others.

Then it started. Everything happened so fast, Jack was barely able to understand what was going on before it was too late. Black sand shot off from the shadows and was directed towards Jack. But Sanderson reacted just in time and shielded Jack with his sand, sadly he weren't able to put up a shield around himself in time and the black sand changed their target. In a matter of seconds the golden man was covered in black sand and could barely move. The golden sand tried to force its way up but it was in vain. He had been weakened by all those years in the mirror, it would take long time before he could get the same strength he once had.

"Let him go." Jack shouted at Pitch while running towards the dark man to attack him. Pitch dodged the ice that was launched towards him and sent his dark sand towards Jack once again. Jack defended himself much better than Pitch had predicted. The teenagers powers had grown, but he acted too much on emotions, and Pitch could clearly sense the emotion of fear. Fear of loosing his friends.

The attacks from Jack became fewer and fewer while Pitch's attacks came more and more frequently. Jack stumbled and got hit many times, but were able to dodge the worst. But for how long would he be able to keep it up?

But then some golden sand were able to escape its prison under the dark sand and launched towards Pitch whom was too focused on Jack to notice it before it was too late. Pitch stumbled back a bit after being hit by the golden sand and then suddenly felt the ice hitting him. Then another hit, and another one. He were barely able to get up shields fast enough to deffence himself and soon he fell to the ground.

Jack flied towards the king and landed in front of him, holding his staff towards Pitch's body. "Let them go." Jack said with a threatening voice. Pitch looked pitiful where he half sat on the ground.

"Are you going to kill me if I don't?" Pitch asked. At first he had seemed scared, but that had only lasted for a short moment.  
"I'm not like you." Jack replied.

"Kill me." Pitch said, the expression he got was filled of pain and sadness. Jack had never seen Pitch like that. His staff sank to his side. But as fast as the staff weren't pointed at Pitch he took his chance and attacked. Jack flew backwards into a tree when the dark sand hit him. He dropped his staff at impact and as he tried to catch his breath Pitch picked up the staff and threw it far away from the boy.

The black sand held the teenager against the tree, it got harder to breath as the sand slowly seemed to crush him. He desperately tried to get more air, but for every breath the sand got a bit tighter and it got harder to breath.

"This is farewell Jack." Pitch said, looking down on the teenager before him. "Its a pity, I had hoped we could join forces one day. But apparently that was an impossible future." Jack's head had started to spin because of the lack of oxygen. Was this how he were going to die? What would happen to Jamie and the others if he died there? He couldn't die now, but what could he do?

* * *

_I'm alive :D  
_Sorry for not writing for a while ^^' It has been a lot with roleplay meetings and going away to celebrate my sisters daughters baptism and such stuff. But I finally sat down and wrote this chapter xD In the next chapter you will finally get to see who actually is the 'prince charming' that saves the day x3 Or will it be saved? hmm...

And I apologize if the action scene doesn't seem that well written, I'm not that used to write action scenes and I don't think I'm very good at it either ^^' But I tried.


	24. Chapter 23: Reunited

No air, no light. Only darkness. Jack's life slowly slipped away and there was nothing he could do to get it back. Soon it would all be over.

But then the pressure was released from his chest and his body were freed from the black sand. Jack coughed as his chest took in the first piece of air. His head was still spinning and he hadn't opened his eyes yet. First he heard voices, but he couldn't make out what they said. Then there was no sounds around him, everything was silent.

Jack finally got the courage to open his eyes to see what was going on. The first thing he saw was Sanderson. The golden little man was holding a pendant in his small hands, a smile was on his lips while tears made their way down his cheeks.

"What... happened?" Jack asked, his voice barely hearable. But the golden man were still able to make out the words. He gave Jack a small nod, ensuring him that everything was fine. Jack turned his head slowly to see where Pitch were, had Sanderson beaten him? But Pitch was nowhere to be found. Instead he saw someone else, someone he didn't think he would ever see again.

* * *

Pitch grinned. It was his victory. In just a few minutes the teenager that could ruin his plans would be gone forever. He was so absorbed in tasting the teens fears and watching his life disappear so he didn't notice what was about to happen.

Suddenly something grabbed his leg and pulled so he fell down. He immediately lost control over the sand because of the surprise. But he fast summoned some of the sand and made a giant scythe from it then turned to whoever dared to attack him from behind.

He had barely come up on his feet before he stopped midstep. The scythe he was holding high in the air dropped to the ground and he did nothing to try to stop the ivy that crawled up on his body. He just stared at the woman that had appeared in front of him, a woman he didn't believe he would ever see again. The dark sand tried to get its control back, but it was in vain. At the moment there was no Pitch the dark lord, only Kozmotis Pitchiner the lonely father that longed to see his family.

"Father, its enough." The woman said with a soft voice as she walked forward towards him. She kneeled down to look the man in the eyes, Pitch didn't have any strength to stand up any longer. A gentle hand stroke Pitch's cheek and caught the tear that had fallen down on it. "Everything will be fine." She promised him and closed her arms around him in a gentle hug. Pitch's hands started to lift but stopped midair as if he were afraid that she would disappear if he touched her.

The woman gave a small nod towards the sandman that had been freed the moment Pitch had lost concentration. Sanderson looked at Seraphina with sad eyes, he understood the moment he saw her that she were no longer human.

Seraphina took one step away from her father and then held his hand. He couldn't take his eyes off of her, he didn't want to either. The ground started to move underneath Pitch and slowly started to cover his body. "Don't leave me." Pitch begged as he started to move down into the earth. He weren't afraid of what would happen to him, he were only afraid of loosing his family again.

"I will always be with you." She told him with a gentle smile. They both disappeared down into the earth.

Sanderson walked towards where the two had been. The only thing that was left was a pendant. As he opened it there were a picture of Seraphina. Pitch had carried the pendant with him ever since his wife gave it to him, and the picture had been put in just a couple of years before he lost his daughter. Tears started to flow down the golden mans cheeks.

Then he heard Jack speak, apparently he hadn't been conscious for the last minutes and missed what had happened. Maybe Sanderson would tell Jack one day what had happened, but for the moment it was best not to. He gave the teenager a small nod, making sure he understood that everything was fine now.

The teenager turned his head a bit and his eyes shot up in surprise. Sanderson took a look towards the same direction and his mouth dropped open.

* * *

"Jack" A gentle voice said as a familiar woman approached, behind her was a man.

"Mom. Dad." Jack felt his eyes tear up, but he tried hard not to let it show. If he had recovered enough to stand then he would probably have tried to run towards them. Instead he sat there on the ground, watching his parents as they approached him.

Toothiana stopped just some steps away from Jack and Nicholas put a hand on his wife's shoulder when he stopped beside her.

"You did well Jack." Toothiana told him "I'm sorry we couldn't be here with you." Jack could barely keep his tears away and even though his strength shouldn't have been enough he still forced himself up on his feet and threw himself at his parents.

He could see them, he could touch them, even smell them. Had he died? Toothiana and Nicholas put ther arms around him. "We must leave." Toothiana said as she held her son closely. "But remember that we love you."  
"Do not worry, even if we are gone we will still watch over you." His father reassured him.

"I don't want you to leave again." Jack said with his head buried in his fathers chest. "I don't want to be alone again."

"You are not alone Jack. You're friends will always be there, and one day we will meet each other again. Trust me." Toothiana told him and hugged him tighter before she couldn't touch him anymore. She started to fade away. "Goodbye, my brave son." She said with a last kiss on his head.

"Thank you Sandy, for watching my boy." Nicholas said as also he started to fade away. Jack tried to hold him for as long as he could, but in the end he just went right through his father.

As the two ghosts had disappeared, Sanderson made his way towards Jack and put a hand on his shoulder. Jack looked up at the golden man with teary eyes, then he wrapped his arms around the small man and cried.

* * *

The others had woken up and found that both Jack and Sanderson were gone, they had immediately gone towards the castle and they were ready for a fight if it was needed. Instead they found Jack and the golden man together with the other children on their way back.

Jack told them all everything that had happened except for the part of him meeting his parents. Sanderson didn't try to tell them about Pitch and his daughter and let everyone believe that no one of them knew what had happened. Jack though knew that Sanderson had seen something, but he weren't going to make the little man speak if he didn't want to.

Some days after Pitch was gone Jack returned to the castle. Everyone welcomed him and his friends. Since he were the only heir to the throne, and Pitch had disappeared to who knows where, it didn't take long before he had become the new king.

Just a year after Jack had taken over the throne the kingdom was almost back to how it had been when his father. Of course there were some things that would take much longer time to fix but at least they had taken care of the worst damages.

Jack had given Bunnymund his forest back, and the Pooka often came to visit the teen, even though he made excuses that it was the others he wanted to meet. Jamie and his friends were living together with Jack in the castle but ever now and then they left to go to the cabin and sleep there some nights. After all, it had been their home for a long time and they felt safe there. Sanderson became Jack's guardian and royal adviser and every now and then he also took the time to try and teach Jack some of their country's history. That wasn't a great success though since Jack rather lived in here and now instead of the past. It was just not his kind of subject and instead he made a game out of the lesson by trying to escape the teacher.

And that's the story of how the young prince, with help of his friends, became a great king!

**The end**

* * *

_Oh my God, its the end o.O THE END! I feel so empty... what am I supposed to do now? Dx *sigh*_

Anyway, thanks for following me through 24 chapters and thanks for all the nice reviews :3 Sorry for not pairing Jack with anyone, some of you probably expected me to do that xD hahah I know this chapter was very cheesy, but I hope you like it anyways :) If Pitch died or not is up to you to decide, I just know his daughter took him, to where I don't know xD I hope you all feel at least a bit sorry for Pitch! He didn't mean to be evil, it just happened xD

I thought about making this story's ending a bit different. At first I thought that Jack would wake up in a tree either when he got killed by Pitch or when he after he had saved Jamie (depending on my mood probably) And he would have realized that it had all been a dream. That would have been a funny ending but in the end I decided to keep the world I had built up :)

Thanks once again for following my story ^^ 3


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